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FOUR-IN-HAND 






“ 1 lost my hat. 


It blew into the field.” 


•‘V 


(See page 47.) 





FOUR-IN-HAND 


A STORY OF SMART LIFE IN NEW 
YORK AND AT A COUNTRY CLUB 



GERALDINE ANTHONY 






NEW YORK 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
MCMIII 


OI-Z‘5'2.^1 


>2 3 

A <ii85 


THE LiERAUY OF 
COi^oPtSS 

Two Copies Keceiveo 

OCT 8 1903 


Copyii^ai tniry 

(Ht 

CLASS 1C XXcT No 



COPTBIGHT, 1903, BY 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 




Published, October, 190S 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I. 

IL 

III. 

IV. 
V. 


VI. 


VII. 

VIIL 


IX. 

X. 

XL 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 
XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 


PAGE 

In Which the Buggy Does Not Arrive . 1 

A Moral Disquisition : . . . .12 

We Discuss Weighty Matters . . .21 

Efpie Succumbs to a First Impression . 33 
In Which Effie Becomes a Bone of Con- 
tention 49 

In Which Family Matters are Freely 

Discussed 63 

In Which Mr. Fenwick Regulates His 

Affairs .' 74 

Proves the Deplorable Consequence of 
Taking a Wink for a Bid . . .80 


His Private Opinion 89 

A Thunder-storm 106 

A Change of Air 114 

In the Enemy’s Country . . . .124 

A Conflagration 151 

The Trials of a Guardian . . .167 


We Prepare for a Campaign . . .179 

We Refuse an Excellent Parti and Eat 
Truffles at St. Vincent’s . . .187 

Which May Not Improve the Reader’s 
Opinion of Mr. Percival . . .201 


v 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 



PAGE 

XVIII. 

For Their Own Good 

. 

. 209 

XIX. 

We Celebrate the Holidays at 

Fort- 


MOUNTHOUSE . 

. 

. 225 

XX. 

In Which Mr. Trevor 

Becomes 

More 


Deeply Immersed in Hot Water . 233 

XXL 

“Lay-overs for Meddlers” . 

. 245 

XXII. 

The Deluge 

. 

. 253 

XXIII. 

Mrs. Trevor Speaks . 

. 

. 263 

XXIV. 

Futility 

. 

. 271 

XXV. 

In Which Miss Fenwick Becomes En- 


GAGED 

. 

. 281 

XXVI. 

Shows How Difficult is Youth 

. 294 

XXVII. 

Something Breaks 

. 

. 304 

XXVIII. 

Sunday Afternoon 

. 

. 317 

XXIX. 

False Dawn 

. 

. 326 

XXX. 

The End of the Rope 

. 

. 335 

XXXI. 

A New Leaf 

. 

. 350 

XXXII. 

“Greater Love Hath 

No Man 

Than 


This” 

. 

. 362 

XXXIII. 

Out of the Depths . 


. 371 


VI 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


CHAPTER I 

IN WHICH THE BUGGY DOES NOT ARRIVE 

No, ma^am. No hacks are allowed at this 
station. You’d ought to have got off at the 
village if you wanted a hack. Nobody gets off 
here except they’re going to the Club House or 
the cottages. There’s the stage. You can go 
to the Club in that.” 

I don’t wish to go to the Club,” said Mrs. 
Foster, severely. “ The conductor assured me 
that I should find carriages at this station as 
well as the other, and ” 

The stage will take you as far as the Club 
House,” the brass-buttoned functionary re- 
peated with equal sternness. It’s ready to 
start now, but no hacks is ever allowed.” 

Mrs. Foster glanced about the tiny station, 
gabled and peaked, and disfigured by no en- 
lightening, if vulgar, sign, at the new stone 
1 . , 


FOUR-IN-HAND 

gateway and keeper’s lodge across the road, at 
the empty track gliding off into the thick fog, 
and finally at the neat black vehicle provided 
for the convenience of the members of the 
Fortmounthouse Country Club, into which half 
a dozen people had already climbed. Her 
heart was filled with resentment, for certainly 
her brother should have sent some one to meet 
her, after directing her to get out at the incon- 
venient new station. It was nearly six o’clock, 
and the air was damp and raw. Did they ex- 
pect her to wait on the platform all the even- 
ing? She could not even take a train back to 
the old station before eight o’clock, and the fog 
was growing thicker. Ask the stage-driver,” 
she commanded, if he can not drive me to Mr. 
Fenwick’s, on the Milford road. Tell him I will 
pay anything in reason, but that I must get 
there at once.” While the station-master de- 
livered her message she stood near the stage, 
check in hand, awaiting the result of the inter- 
view. She was rightly served, she reflected in- 
dignantly, for not having sooner detected the 
hand of her grandniece Effie in the arrange- 
ment which had placed her in this dilemma. 
Who but Effie would have urged her to dis- 
mount at this stronghold of frivolity, so that, 
2 


THE BUGGY DOES NOT ARRIVE 


instead of rolling comfortably in a hack to- 
ward her brother's house, with a good cup of 
tea in prospect, and a speedy opportunity of 
rearranging her limp gray puffs, she was 
stranded in a place from which escape seemed 
improbable, and reduced to the plight of beg- 
ging favors from a surly driver. 

He says,’^ the station-master informed 
her, that his orders are to drive nowhere but 
to the Club, and he donT want to get into 
trouble with the Governing Committee.’’ 

Then what am I to do? ” Mrs. Foster de- 
manded accusingly. 

I’m sure I don’t know, ma’am,” said the 
unsuccessful go-between. Now then, please 
stand out of the way. The trunks are 
coming.” 

Mrs. Foster, turning with the abruptness of 
despair, collided with a tall man in a heavy 
mackintosh, who was making for the stage 
door. The station-master followed her, ex- 
postulating with an added zeal at sight of the 
newcomer, to whom he touched his hat. 

“ I beg your pardon, madam. I trust I 
didn’t hurt you,” said the tall man. What’s 
the matter, Harkins? ” 

Well, sir,” said the station-master, the 
3 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


lady has come to the wrong place, and VYe just 
been telling her that the stage ain’t for general 
use, nor hawking ’round the back roads.” 

If I could get a hack — ” the luckless Mrs. 
Foster recommenced, feeling the presence of 
one in authority. 

I’ve just been telling her,” the fluent Har- 
kins interpolated, that as for expecting the 
stage to go around in a general way for people 

as ain’t members, why, I ” 

“ Yes, yes, of course,” said the tall man 
wearily, and turned once more to Mrs. Foster. 

Where do you wish to go? ” 

“ To Mr. George Fenwick’s,” she answered, 
grasping her check and pocketbook with re- 
newed hope. 

“ If you don’t object to going by way of the 
Club House, the stage can take you there,” said 
her deliverer. Have you any luggage? Har- 
kins, see that this lady’s trunk is put with the 
others.” 

“ Well, Mr. Percival, I’m sure you told me 
yourself, sir — ” Harkins began, but stopped 
in disappointment, seeing that his protest fell 
upon deaf ears, Mr. Percival being at that mo. 
ment employed in helping Mrs. Foster into the 
stage. As he gave a few hurried directions to 
4 


THE BUGGY DOES NOT ARRIVE 


the driver, the station-master went about his 
business, muttering maledictions on the incon- 
sistencies of the Governing Committee. 

Inside the stage, which began to move at a 
smart pace through the gates and up a slight 
ascent of fine macadamized road, were four 
ladies, a round-faced, highly colored young- 
man, two young women who sat near the door 
with an air of seeing nothing, and Mrs. Foster’s 
deliverer, who paid no further attention to her, 
but whom she now regarded with disappro- 
bation. The two lamps which lighted the vehi- 
cle revealed his strong, rather irregular fea- 
tures, the decided curve of his lips, and his 
long, indifferent, greenish-gray eyes. She knew 
him well enough, both by sight and reputation, 
and regretted her indebtedness to him, even 
for a trifiing civility. It is true that he showed 
no disposition to take advantage of the serv- 
ice he had rendered her, but promptly turned 
his back upon her, and began to talk to his 
nearest neighbor, a woman with a profile like 
a cameo, and beautiful with a brilliant and un- 
deniable loveliness. Mrs. Foster recognized 
this lady also, and pursed up her lips. 
Presently the stage stopped, and a man in cor- 
duroys and muddy leggings climbed in and 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


tumbled past Mrs. Foster to join the others. 

Hello! You here?” he exclaimed, shaking 
hands with everybody. Nobody told me you 
were coming. I^m awfully glad to see you. 
Pve just been for a turn around the Polo 
Grounds — nothing else to do — but the mud is 
knee-deep. How are you, Mrs. Trevor? How 
are the old man and the boy? ” 

Mr. Trevor declines to come until to-mor- 
row,” said the beauty, “ and, I dare not take the 
baby into the country in this raw, cold w^eather. 
We are only here for the week-end, just for a 
little rest.” 

Well, you will find it here,” said the new 
arrival. 

Come, now, Dickman, donT discourage 
them, or they will be for taking the next train 
back to town,” cried the round-faced ydung 
man. Here^s Mrs. Townshend, whose idea of 
rest is pursuing innocent men and inducing 
them to take charge of her Boys’ Clubs, 
and ” 

Bobby, you are absurd,” the subject of his 
remarks interrupted conclusively. She was a 
large, fair, handsome young woman in severely 
tailored garments, and seemed to radiate capa- 
bility. Isn’t it dreadful, though, Mr. Dick- 
6 


THE BUGGY DOES NOT ARRIVE 


man, to see such an avalanche of women with 
never a husband among them? Mr. Townshend 
is in Washington, Mr. Trevor is on his way 
back from Indian River, and Mr. Beverly is in 
Boston.” 

And Mr. Percival, we believe, is in Purga- 
tory,” said Bobby Floyd in a loud whisper, 
screening his indiscretion from the ears of the 
well-preserved matron in the corner. “ No, 
Aunt Louise can’t hear me. She is taking her 
forty winks, as usual. Did you think I meant 
you, Sidney? ” 

I certainly did, uncomplimentary as it 
may be considered by my fellow sufferers,” said 
Percival. I insist upon telling my wrongs. I 
am cold and wet and hungry and sleepy, and 
I wish Percy Townshend would come home and 
go about with his own wife. What peace is 
there in life, when your cousins not only get 
socialism in a rabid form themselves, but must 
needs inoculate you with it? Last night Mrs. 
Townshend took me to a shocking place on 
Thirty-fourth Street to hear a man named 
Kendal slang us for having any money to begin 
with, and then assure us that we couldn’t 
whitewash our sinful souls even by giving it 
away. When we came out it was snowing, and 
7 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


she insisted on walking home, and then 
wouldn’t go anywhere to supper.” 

He said he had a fifteen-dollar thirst, 
whatever that may be,” said Mrs. Townshend, 
and I wouldn’t encourage it.” 

And now she drags me to the country.” 

On the contrary, I advised your staying in 
town,” said Mrs. Townshend. 

Yes, and going to somebody or other’s 
Lenten sewing-class to hear that Parlor 
Prophet again. At least there’s nothing of 
that sort here.” 

Who’s at the Club?” Bobby Floyd in- 
quired. 

The Melvilles, some Baltimore people 
looking at cottages, and my sister’s boy — the 
one who’s just been expelled from Harvard,” 
said Mr. Dickman with beautiful frankness. 
“ Awful cub he is. They’re turning him out to 
grass for a while.” 

“ They had a big kick-up there, didn’t 
they? ” Mr. Floyd remarked, meaningly. Mrs. 
Trevor flushed and turned her shoulder to the 
speaker. 

“I suppose he will tell the whole story 
next,” she said impatiently to Percival. She 
spoke so low that Mrs. Foster could not catch 
8 


THE BUGGY DOES NOT ARRIVE 


her words, but she could hear Percival make 
some consolatory reply, and observe that they 
continued to talk confidentially while Mr. 
Floyd expatiated upon the details of the scan- 
dal, condemning the faculty for undue harsh- 
ness. “ And they might at least have consid- 
ered who it was, you know,’’ he concluded 
severely, as the stage swung into an open oval 
with a row of brightly lighted windows facing 
upon it, and backed up to a fiight of shallow 
steps leading to a broad veranda. Liveried 
servants appeared at the door, and the new ar- 
rivals scrambled out, the two maids going last 
with an air of self-effacement. Mrs. Foster 
was seized with a sudden panic. Perhaps after 
all she would be able to proceed no farther. 
But she was reassured by the fact that her 
trunk was not among those which were tum- 
bled off the roof, and she presently found her- 
self being whirled downhill again at a very 
rapid pace, and out by another gate, over the 
dark little cross-road which led to her brother’s 
house. The road was heavy and uneven, and 
the good lady was jolted from side to side, like 
a solitary penny in an iron bank. When the 
stage finally came to a halt where a large 
lantern on a post shed a yellow gleam over a 
9 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


wooden gate and a board walk in need of re- 
pairs, Mrs. Foster heaved a sigh of relief and 
alighted from her vehicle. As she picked her 
way down the steps the front door burst open, 
and two boys rushed out, followed by a young 
girl. There was a chorus of surprise and dis- 
may when the young people beheld the convey- 
ance from which their guest descended alone. 
“Why, where’s Archie?” cried one. “Didn’t 
the buggy meet you? ” 

“ I’ll bet he’s upset somewhere,” another ex- 
claimed, while the youngest boy observed with 
a wicked grin, “ I told him he couldn’t drive 
that black horse! ” 

Mrs. Foster paid the driver, who, with the 
assistance of the two boys, had deposited 
her trunk on the walk, and allowed herself 
to be escorted back to the house, her grand- 
niece explaining to her almost tearfully as 
she went that Archie had started in ample 
time to meet her at the new station; that he 
had hired a buggy because the roads were so 
bad; that he must have met with sohne acci- 
dent — excuses which Mrs. Foster accepted 
grimly, remarking: “Yes; I might have ex- 
pected some such performance.’ 

Mr. Fenwick stood in the door, quite un- 
10 


THE BUGGY DOES NOT ARRIVE 


perturbed bj her perfectly audible strictures 
on his domestic government. His hair was 
grizzled, and his small blue eyes were keen 
and humorous. Well, Katherine,” he said, 
" I’m glad to see you. The children intended 
to meet you in state, but no doubt you 
were more comfortable in the stage than sit- 
ting in a puddle on the back road with Archie. 
I’ll have your trunk sent up and you’ll make 
yourself at home. No doubt supper will be 
ready in a few moments. Ask our little 
housekeeper here.” 

Oh, yes, whenever Aunt Katherine wants 
it,” said Effie, feeling that her aunt was re- 
garding her with quite unmerited disapproval. 

“ Don’t feel called upon to wait for me, 
George,” said Mrs. Foster, with crushing 
self-abnegation. 

^‘Nonsense! Take your time,” said her 
brother. We don’t break our necks to sit 
down on the minute.” 

I will take your lamp for you,” said Effie, 
leading the way up-stairs. “ And I hope you 
will excuse Archie. I am sure something 
dreadful must have happened to him, or he 
would certainly have met you.” 


2 


11 


CHAPTEE II 


A MORAL DISQUISITION 

When Mrs. Foster’s gray puffs had been re- 
stored to their normal state of precision and 
her damp gown exchanged for one of stiff black 
silk, she descended to the sitting-room with a 
somewhat mollified aspect. Once comfort- 
ably settled before the hearth she glanced 
critically around the shabby room, with its 
worn horsehair furniture and threadbare car- 
pet, and observed, I see you have not yet re- 
papered the walls, George.” 

There’s no hurry,” said Mr. Fenwick, 
placidly. 

“ I presume Archie has not come back yet,” 
she surmised, dusting the arms of her chair 
with her handkerchief before venturing to lay 
her hands upon them. 

No, but we won’t wait for him,” said Effie, 
a trifie plaintively, harassed by visions of cold 
biscuits and heavy omelet. Will you come 
to supper now? ” 


12 


A MORAL DISQUISITION 


Mrs. Foster rose with, deliberation and led 
the way to the dining-room, followed by the two 
boys. The omelet fulfilled poor Effie’s worst 
apprehensions, and the table manners of the 
children left much to be desired. She poured 
the tea in fear and trembling, altered the con- 
tents of her aunt’s cup three times before suit- 
ing her taste, and furtively shook her head at 
her juniors, who, being in the habit of follow- 
ing their own inclinations, were in no mood to 
be checked by this distressed pantomime. 

Another time,” said Mrs. Foster, I shall 
use my own discretion with regard to the sta- 
tion. I have no desire to intrude myself where 
my presence is unwelcome. The man on the 
platform was most impertinent, and it was 
only by the merest chance that I was able to 
take the stage at all. I can not imagine why 
Eflfie was so anxious to have me get off there in- 
stead of at the village.” 

It’s so much cleaner and newer,” said 
Effie with a rising fiush. 

“ Well, I can just tell you,” said Kobin, the 
eldest boy, pausing, knife in hand, and turning 
a face of dreadful juvenile significance upon 
his unfortunate sister. It’s because she 
wanted to see the Club people.” 

13 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


To have them see her, you mean,” said 
Henry, between two bites of bread and butter. 

Poor Effie’s flush deepened to a vivid scarlet, 
and the tears flew into her eyes. You^re very 
saucy,” she said, sharply, and bent her head 
over the teapot. 

Never mind their nonsense, my dear,” said 
her grandfather, soothingly. ‘‘ They mean no 
harm.” 

If there is a word of truth in what they 
say, it is high time I came here,” said Mrs. 
Foster, sternly. You have allowed Effie to 
run wild for six years, and this is the result! ” 

I’m not quite clear as to the exact signifi- 
cance of your climax,” said Mr. Fenwick, 
placidly helping himself a second time to the 
untempting omelet. 

I had fancied that even you would know 
better than to allow a granddaughter of yours 
to make herself conspicuous for the beneflt of 
the people who belong to this precious Club! ” 
she explained. 

“ How can I make myself conspicuous, when 
I don’t know them?” cried Effie, indignantly. 

I’m sure, no one would ever look at me, and it 
does me no harm to see them.” 

Pardon me, it does you a great deal of 
14 


A MORAL DISQUISITION 


harm,” said Mrs. Foster, severely. I rode 
from the station to the Club House in company 
with a shameless pack of them, and I was 
thankful that you were not in the stage to be 
contaminated by the laxity of their manners. 
There sat Mrs. Percy Townshend, ogling and 
flirting, and collecting men by the way, while 
her husband and children are scattered over 
the country. And there was Mrs. Trevor, too, 
also without her husband, talking in whispers 
to Sidney Percival, but I overheard enough to 
understand that her brother has been expelled 
from Harvard. As for Sidney PercivaFs 
mother, she was dressed like a girl of twenty, 
and behaved like one.” 

“ She doesn’t look a day over thirty-five,” 
said Mr. Fenwick. 

She is enameled, of course. Then there 
was poor Mrs. Floyd’s vulgar son, who went 
direct to the Club House, and probably won’t 
go near his mother all the time he is here. I 
wonder what she thinks of the Club? ” 

If she thinks as I do, she doesn’t object to 
anything that quadruples the value of her 
land,” said Mr. Fenwick. I’ve had three offers 
for my meadow lot this year, all for more than 
I originally paid for the whole place.” 

15 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


These booms never last,” Mrs. Foster pre- 
dicted cheerfully. 

The Trevors must have made a pretty 
penny already, selling what land they didn’t 
want themselves,” the old gentleman went 
on. 

“They will need it, at the rate they are 
spending,” she observed. “A sad sight I call it 
to see a young man of Roy Trevor’s age with 
nothing on earth to do but ride over fences and 
drive four-in-hand.” 

“ And here you may see an old man with 
nothing to do but drive four-in-hand, eh, 
chicks? ” said Mr. Fenwick, beaming upon his 
grandchildren. “ When Archie gets back we 
will ask your aunt if she ever saw a finer four 
than mine.” 

Mrs. Foster sniffed at her brother’s favorite 
joke, which, it must be owned, she had heard 
many times before. “I should say that your 
four-in-hand drove you,” she remarked. 
“ Robin, take your elbows off the table.” 

“ They have remodeled the house and ter- 
raced the front lawn,” said Mr. Fenwick, “and 
Mrs. Townshend is building a cottage on the 
corner next the Floyds’.” 

“The Trevors have six men in livery, for 
16 


A MORAL DISQUISITION 


the butcher counted/^ Eobin spoke up, with 
his elbows on the table again. 

Madam Trevor was contented with one,” 
Mrs. Foster observed. ^^She had the same mu- 
latto waiter for twenty years, and he never 
wore livery. Vulgar ostentation, I call it!” 

Madam Trevor hated to spend money,” 
said Mr. Fenwick, but she was a grande dame 
of the old school, and she certainly knew how 
to bring up her granddaughters. Lovely 
creatures, both of them — so unaffected and 
simple, and so singularly unspoiled!” 

‘‘ Then how, pray, do you account for Sid- 
ney Percival?” Mrs. Foster demanded. 

Mr. Fenwick declined to own himself 
worsted by this seemingly obscure question. 

Oh, well, they were brought up together,” 
he said. My only wonder is that he didn’t 
marry one of those girls.” 

I doubt if Madam Trevor would have 
permitted it,” said Mrs. Foster. man 

with his reputation!” 

“ What did he do? ” Effie demanded breath- 
lessly. She knew, like all Fortmounthouse, 
how Madam Trevor had engaged the beauty 
to her cousin; how the match had been 
broken off; how Percival had appeared as a 
17 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


favored suitor, and how, at the very time 
when everything seemed settled, Trevor had 
returned and carried off the prize. But of 
this other matter she had heard nothing. 

‘‘ He is said to have eloped with a mar- 
ried woman,” her aunt replied; “ and, while his 
family deny it, there is no smoke without fire.” 

Madam Trevor evidently didnT believe 
that story, or she would not have allowed him 
to pay his addresses to Clip,” said Mr. Fen- 
wick, “ and everybody knows how incensed 
she was when Clip refused him. His money 
seems to have steadied him. I tell you, I^m 
a judge of character, and no man who looks 
you in the eyes as he does has ever done a 
shady thing.” 

You donT call it ^shady’ to dangle after 
a married woman, I suppose,” said his sister, 
^‘and doing his best to compromise her? ” 

“ You donT take into consideration that 
he and Koy Trevor have always been like 
David and Jonathan,” said Mr. Fenwick. 

Even loving the same girl couldn^t break 
that friendship. It^s all straight enough, but 
people must talk. If I were a multimillion- 
aire, with the prettiest women in town in 
full cry after me, and all the temptations 
18 


A MORAL DISQUISITION 


that unlimited means bring in their train, I 
doubt very much if I should come out of the 
ordeal as well as he seems to. He’s no saint, 
but, at least, he’s a man.” 

A heavy tramp now sounded in the hall, 
and Archie entered the room, looking cold, 
tired and disgusted. “Ah, now I have my 
four-in-hand complete,” the old gentleman 
called out, but Archie only growled a word 
of greeting to his aunt, and seated himself 
at the supper table, calling for something hot 
immediately. He was a slim, red-haired 
youth, not ill-looking, and caressed an incip- 
ient mustache with fostering care. 

“Where have you been? Aunt Katherine 
had to take the stage,” said Effie, sweeten- 
ing his tea with a lavish hand. 

“ I got upset in the mud. The horse took 
fright at the cars, and bolted with me,” said 
Archie, sulkily. “ I took him back to Salter’s 
and walked home. I didn’t think a woman 
would care to drive after him.” 

“ And with this brute you proposed to 
meet me! ” said his aunt. 

“ Well, there’s no harm done,” said Archie. 
“ You’re here safely, and so am I.” 

Efifie’s little nose was uptilted ever so 
19 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


slightly, and her pretty chin followed the same 
direction. Her eyes were deep blue, and her 
skin of that milky whiteness which accom- 
panies such hair as hers — light golden-auburn, 
dark in the shadow, dazzling in the sunlight. 
She was neither tall nor short, and in spite of 
her youth there was not an angle about her 
figure, save what was distinctly due to the 
limitations of a country dressmaker. ‘‘ She 
must have a couple of years at a good school,^^ 
Mrs. Foster was refiecting, when her attention 
was recalled to the immediate present by a 
bread-ball whizzing past her nose — a token of 
the terms of good fellowship and perfect 
equality on which Mr. Fenwick lived with his 
‘‘ four-in-hand.” 


20 


CHAPTER III 


WE DISCUSS WEIGHTY MATTERS 

At the Club House Mr. Dickman was giv- 
ing a dinner to three of the four ladies who 
had arrived on Friday afternoon. It was Sun- 
day night, raw and cold outside, warm and 
brilliantly lighted in the large dining-room, 
where half a dozen tables were occupied by 
groups of chattering people, up for the three 
days^ respite from urban pursuits which is 
all one can reasonably be expected to endure 
on a stretch. At Mr. Hickman’s social board 
great bowls of forced spring flowers were 
withering under the radiance of the candles 
in their silver branches, and Bobby Floyd 
was eating his heartiest in the company of 
the chosen few who comprised the holy of 
holies in his set. Here was Mrs. Percy Town- 
shend, dressed in black as a concession to 
the penitential season, and exhibiting a pair 
of very handsome shoulders in compliment to 
her host. Here, too, were Mrs. Beverly, in gray 
21 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


silk that had lost its first freshness, and Mrs. 
Trevor, in pale pink, with a translucency of 
complexion and a golden sheen of hair be- 
fore which the attractions of the other ladies 
and the delicacy of the yellow jonquils and 
white hyacinths paled and waned. The 
beauty^s husband — handsome, fair, and lan- 
guid — was fortifying his constitution with 
ruddy duck and saying little. Percival sat 
between Mrs. Trevor and Mrs. Beverly. He 
appeared more cheerful than on the day of 
his arrival, when he had listened to confiden- 
tial murmurs in the stage. He had a well- 
groomed, thoroughbred look, and a manner 
that was what he chose to make it. In the 
faultless oval of glossy linen which over- 
spread his broad chest was a single stud 
composed of a solitaire pearl. 

“Well, upon my word!” cried Mr. Floyd, 
as two people seated themselves at a neighbor- 
ing table. “ There’s May Kennedy with her 
new husband. Quick work, that. Got rid of 
Kennedy on Friday afternoon and married 
Bertram Saturday morning.” 

“ It is perfectly disgusting,” said Mrs. 
Townshend, nodding to the newly assorted 
couple, but without her usual cordiality. “ One 
22 


WE DISCUSS WEIGHTY MATTERS 


ought not to recognize them, but what can one 
do? I sympathized so thoroughly with her 
sister, and though the case is quite different. 
May wouldnT understand why I don’t sympa- 
thize with her.” 

It’s impossible to draw the line nowa- 
days,” Mrs. Beverly opined. Everybody does 
that sort of thing. Two of my cousins changed 
husbands last spring. It was very amicably 
arranged, and I can’t see that they are less 
run after.” 

Grandmamma never received people like 
that,” said Mrs. Trevor, and I think she was 
right. Every one seems to forget that mar- 
riage is a sacrament. If a man treats you so 
that you can’t remain under the same roof 
with him, I suppose you must leave him, but he 
is your husband just the same until he dies.” 

Still, the possibility of escaping a life- 
sentence robs matrimony of half its terrors,” 
said Dickman. “ I myself wouldn’t shrink 
from trying it for a year or two.” 

How soon you would learn the peril of 
joking on the subject!” said Trevor. Such 
jests are not permitted in my domestic circle.” 

Of course they are not. It is scandalous,” 
said Mrs. Townshend. 

23 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


^^Then why didn’t you cut the Bertram 
outfit? ” Trevor inquired with curiosity. 

One doesn’t like to be singular, and I do 
hate to be considered a prig. I know we ought 
to set an example, but when you begin to draw 
the line you are bound to hurt so many people 
whom you really like.” 

To say nothing of the fact that there’s 
always a case or two in one’s own family,” said 
Mrs. Beverly. Your Kendal man is right, 
Spriggy, when he says we are retrograding 
from over-civilization. We are all on the 
downward path.” 

Now I don’t agree with that,” said Mrs. 
Townshend. “ I’m sure we are much better 
off than our great-grandfathers were, and as 
for those poor wretched people in the Middle 
Ages, I’d rather be a typewriter in our Girls’ 
Lodging-houses to-day than a queen in those 
times. Think of the misery of those draughty 
castles, without gas or furnaces, or any mod- 
ern improvements!” 

Or electricity,” Trevor suggested. Have 
they attacked you yet on the subject of bed- 
room candles, Dickman? ” 

‘^It’s all very well for you! If you want 
gas you’ve only to go to your own house, but 
24 


WE DISCUSS WEIGHTY MATTERS 


if you had to dress yourself before one of those 
mirrors — ” Mrs. Townshend began. 

Don’t you think you can stand it until 
you get into your own house, Spriggy? ” Trevor 
inquired. “ I wish to state now, to as many 
as are here present, that next year I resign, 
with bloodshed if need be, from the Governing 
Committee of this Club. The office isn’t as 
much of a sinecure as I fondly fancied it was 
going to be.” 

“ Well, if you can’t make it a sinecure I 
don’t know who can! ” cried Mr. Floyd. 

“ I didn’t expect, when in the fulness of my 
guileless enthusiasm I allowed myself to be 
drawn into this undertaking, that I should 
find traitors in my own camp,” said Trevor. I 
didn’t know that I should be overwhelmed with 
complaints from the disaffected members of my 
own family. I would have you to know, Mrs. 
Townshend, that it isn’t every one who is 
blessed with your executive ability. We poor 
creatures are only men. Now if you will take 
my place ” 

‘^Thanks, but with the Coal and Kerosene 
Club and the hospital on my hands, to say 
nothing of my mission class, I’m not seeking 
occupation for my spare moments,” said Mrs. 

25 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Townshend. You lucky men have nothing 
to do but attend to my requests, while I am up 
to my eyes in reports and subscription lists. 
I came here for peace, but I see I can’t have it, 
even here.” 

I was telling Mrs. Townshend, a propos des 
hottes, that I thought her very foolish to waste 
her time and energies in trying to improve 
people who don’t wish to be improved,” said 
Mrs. Beverly. 

Well, if they don’t, they ought to,” said 
Mrs. Townshend with decision. 

How do you propose bringing them to a 
realizing sense of their moral obligations? ” 
Percival inquired. Of course they don’t like 
to be improved. Nobody does. It’s equivalent 
to admitting that there’s room for improve- 
ment.” 

Will you come down and take a boys’ club 
if I’ll tell you the secret of my great success? ” 
Mrs. Townshend asked laughing. 

“ You say I have no discipline when I take 
your children to the circus,” said Percival re- 
flectively. How should I manage with news- 
boys? ” 

‘‘You might give ’em drawing lessons,” 
Trevor suggested. 


26 


WE DISCUSS WEIGHTY MATTERS 

No/’ said Percival, “ I’m told that that 
would be false socialism. If I couldn’t afford 
to pay some one else to do it, I should have a 
right to foster all the young Raphaels I could 
discover, but as things stand, it’s my duty to 
do it by proxy only.” 

That’s where I don’t agree with Mr. Ken- 
dal,” said Mrs. Tdwnshend. Of course in one 
way he is right. We have no right to deprive 
any one else of employment, and that young 
man I engaged to give the drawing lessons cer- 
tainly needed the money. But I think a great 
deal of personal influence, and there’s no in- 
fluence so great as a teacher’s. You can get 
nearer to them in that way than in any other — 
except, of course, college settlements, which 
are out of the question for a woman with chil- 
dren.” 

^^At it again!” cried Mr. Floyd. Now, if 
you must go at th*e poor tooth and nail, why 
don’t you ask my opinion, and learn something 
practical? The true way to reach their hearts 
is to share in their simple vices, and gain their 
confidence by rushing the growler with them. 
They’d take advice from you over the social 
cup that they’d slug you for under ordinary 
circumstances. When you’ve set up enough 
3 27 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


drinks I believe you could even induce ’em to 
wash their faces.” 

But I am trying to make them want to 
wash their faces,” Mrs. Townshend protested. 

I’m rather sorry for them, do you know? ” 
said Percival. It’s a shame to bother them 
so. I’m thinking of founding a society for the 
purpose of supplying the wtiworthy poor with 
superfluities — feathered hats and accordions, 
if you like — not the things they need, but the 
things they want. I know from experience 
how excessively dull and profltless it is to have 
only the things you ought to have.” 

“ When was that? Since I’ve known you? ” 
his cousin Bobby inquired artlessly. 

^^Well, you’re all very flippant and frivo- 
lous, and I wish I could carry you directly 
down to the East Side and show you some of 
the sights I see every week,” said Mrs. 
Townshend. I won’t spoil your dinner by 
going into details, but it is enough to break 
anybody’s heart but Bobby’s. It isn’t my 
fault, of course, and yet it distresses me so that 
I feel I’m somehow to blame for it — that I 
have no right to go to a good tailor when some 
people have no shoes, or enjoy my dinner when 
other people haven’t enough to eat. And 
28 


WE DISCUSS WEIGHTY MATTERS 


sometimes I think we have done no good at all, 
and that they are quite right when they resent 
our trying.” 

But you always do the right thing,” said 
Mrs., Trevor, admiringly. Mr. Floyd, however, 
looked displeased. 

“ Spriggy as reformer! ” he cried. I must 
say I don’t like this hobby as well as I did the 
theatricals, or even the clay-modeling. You’ve 
had a turn at everything else, and now it’s 
slumming. It’s a bad business, too. Aren’t 
there enough beggars and humbugs and 
anarchists going the rounds without your en- 
couraging them by pretending that you be- 
lieve this unholy socialist talk? ” 

Perhaps we are going to have a commune 
here in a few years. I am sure we are told so 
on all hands,” said Mrs. Beverly, “ but, for my 
part, I don’t care to anticipate the evil day. 
And yet they all admit, even your Mr. Kendal, 
that the poor, as a class, were never so well off 
as they are to-day, or so discontented.” 

“ Well, for my part,” said Mr. Floyd, piously, 
^^I don’t think it’s right to tamper with the 
decrees of Providence. We all know that 
everything is ordered, and if the Lord chose 
to make me poor, and other people rich, there’s 
29 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


no sense in making a row about it. There it is 
—it’s a fact, and you couldn’t alter it if you 
argued till doomsday.” 

“But suppose the commune is ordered?” 
Trevor suggested. The idea did not seem to 
disturb him. He continued to eat his dinner 
with placid relish. 

“ One doesn’t like to insult Providence by 
holding it accountable for such things,” said 
Dickman. 

“ The truth is,” Mr. Floyd announced with 
conviction, “ there are too many people in the 
world, and there ought to be a war or some- 
thing to thin out the ranks.” 

“ If you would only listen when Mr. Ken- 
dal explains those things, you wouldn’t make 
such sweeping statements,” said Mrs. Town- 
shend. “ Didn’t you think, Sidney, that he put 
it all very clearly? ” 

“ I’m sorry to disappoint you, but his 
theories didn’t seem to me to hang together,” 
said Percival. “ I was in a state of mind when 
if he could have proved to me that it was my 
duty to sell all my goods and give them to the 
poor, I should have been genuinely relieved. 
Unfortunately his logic wasn’t convincing, and 
I still labor under the delusion that my un- 
30 


WE DISCUSS WEIGHTY MATTERS 


earned increment belongs to me as much as 
my nose or my convictions, and that individual 
possessions are no more to be shirked than 
individual responsibilities, so I must continue 
to be a cumberer of the earth.” 

‘‘ I believe you would like to be a tramp, 
and not know where your next meal was com- 
ing from! ” Mr. Floyd exclaimed in disgust. 

If they would ever tell you what to do, 
you might go ahead and do it,” Percival went 
on, but, on investigation, it proves to be 
mostly glittering generalities. We are useless, 
we are ignoble, we don’t earn our right to exist- 
ence, but grant all that, and does it prove that 
a hod-carrier or a farm-hand makes better use 
of his opportunities than we do, or is more 
worthy to contain the breath of life? I don’t 
claim to be better, but I don’t think I’m worse, 
than the people who call me names. And I’m 
not at all convinced that in my place they 
would acquit themselves any better than I 
do.” 

Well, I like to be unprogressive,” said 
Mrs. Beverly. When people threaten me 
with revolutions I reflect that the world wasn’t 
made in a day, and it can’t be unmade in a day. 
Here I am, and here I propose to enjoy myself 
31 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


to the best of my ability, as long as circum- 
stances permit.” 

“My sentiments exactly!” said Trevor. 

“ My husband is a reformer, you know,” she 
continued, addressing the company with beau- 
tiful impartiality. “ His plan for revolutioniz- 
ing the world is to begin with the women in it. 
He doesnT like women. There never yet was a 
great abstract theory that didn’t grow out of 
some personal like or dislike.” 

“ Well, when the revolution comes, we will 
barricade our houses and show fight to the 
last, won’t we. Clip?” said Mrs. Townshend, 
“ and go to the scaffold in our best Felix gowns 
with smiling countenances.” 

“ I sha’n’t,” said Mrs. Beverly. “ I shall 
pack my portable belongings and flee the coun- 
try for some haven of rest like St. Petersburg, 
where if I hold my tongue and mind my own 
business I shall not be molested.” 

“ I think I should be obliged to stay — to die 
for my altars and my fires,” said Percival, bow- 
ing over his glass, to Mrs. Townshend. 

“ And I,” said Bobby, “ will drop a brick on 
your husband, Mrs. Beverly, as he climbs over 
the barricades.” 


32 


CHAPTER IV 


EFFIE SUCCUMBS TO A FIRST IMPRESSION 

Because she spoke with doubtless well- 
deserved acrimony of that very select and 
fashionable body of people comprising the 
Fortmounthouse Country Club, it must not be 
surmised that Mrs. Foster was a malicious per- 
son, or averse to the pleasures of society. She 
was merely animated in this instance by that 
peculiar malignity which the best of people are 
apt to cherish toward other people who have 
shown them a little too plainly that their ap- 
proval is a matter of no consequence. It is 
probable that the Trevors and their friends 
were neither as bad as Mrs. Foster thought 
them, nor as good as they thought themselves, 
but at all events they lent an interest to a spot 
which otherwise could boast but little excite- 
ment. 

Neither did Mrs. Foster intend to render 
herself obnoxious to her relatives, but to young 
persons accustomed to bask in the sun of per- 
33 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


petual approval her well-meant efforts for 
their betterment smacked of persecution. 

Shortly after his sister’s arrival Mr. Fen- 
wick appeared in such gala attire that Effie 
demanded: “Why are you so dressed up, 
Grandpa? Are you going up on the hill? ” 

“ I am going to call on Mrs. Floyd,” said 
Mr. Fenwick, “ and tell her that your aunt is 
here.” 

“ Well, just wait a moment and I’ll go with 
you.” 

“ Effie, I beg of you! Don’t you know that 
it is very forward in you to force yourself 
where you are not invited? ” said her aunt. “ If 
Mrs. Floyd chooses to pay me the attention of 
calling upon me, and if Mrs. Logan finishes 
your brown dress in time, I will take you my- 
self.” 

“ Let her come now if she likes,” said Mr. 
Fenwick, but Effie’s pride was up in arms, and 
she declined his invitation with decision, say- 
ing that she preferred walking to driving, and 
that she liked to go out by herself — two state- 
ments of obvious mendacity, by which she 
sought to vindicate her insulted dignity. 

The hired vehicle was already at the door, 
and Mr. Fenwick departed, a little upset at his 
34 


EFFIE’S FIRST IMPRESSION 


granddaughter's evident perturbation of 
spirit. Katherine was officious. The child 
might have gone in perfect security of a wel- 
come from Mrs. Floyd. The next time he 
should make a point of taking her with him. 

During the brief period of her visit his 
sister had managed to bother him consider- 
ably about Effie; her attire, education, and 
prospects had all received a due need of atten- 
tion from the excellent woman, and Mr. Fen- 
wick, while outwardly retaining his baffling 
serenity, was beginning to feel a new and dis- 
quieting sense of responsibility for the young 
personas future. All his moral obligations 
toward his charge, which had occurred to him 
at odd moments and had comfortably slipped 
into oblivion again, were dragged ruthlessly 
to light, and flaunted in his face, and the un- 
deniable grain of truth and expediency which 
he recognized in his sister^s arguments aroused 
his native stubbornness as no fallacy could 
have done. Effie was maturing. The house 
was lonely, the boys, though flne fellows, were 
rough. It was clear that she ought to see a 
little of the world — indeed, he had always said 
so — but it was his place and not Katherine^s 
to decide the protecting wing under which she 
35 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


should emerge from her seclusion. Katherine 
meant well, but her plan of taking Effie away 
with her was preposterous. There was society 
in Fortmounthouse — plenty of good society, 
he repeated to himself a little aggressively. 
He would speak to Mrs. Floyd about Effie, and 
arouse her interest in the girl. Mrs. Floyd 
knew everybody, and could in her turn interest 
the Trevors in any prot^g^e of hers. It would 
be an admirable joke on Katherine, and a les- 
son as well, to carry out the letter of her ad- 
monitions while disregarding the spirit. He 
did not wish to leave home, and he need not be, 
separated from Effie. He was still chuckling 
over the humor of the idea when his carriage 
turned in at the massive unhinged gates of 
Graystone and rolled noisily up the gravel 
drive to Mrs. Floyd’s door. 

From the sounds which issued from the 
parlor it was plain that Mrs. Floyd was enter- 
taining young and lively company, and on en- 
tering the room Mr. Fenwick found himself in 
the presence of the Trevors, Mrs. Townshend, 
Mrs. Percival, and Bobby Floyd, who was 
favoring his mother with a call because the 
others had elected to do so. The old gentleman 
beamed upon all the ladies impartially, and 
36 


EFFIE’S FIRST IMPRESSION 


was soon drinking tea in a corner with the 
charming widow of whom his sister so strenu- 
ously disapproved, and learning from her the 
unexpected news of Mrs. Floyd’s intended de- 
parture for a year abroad. At this he looked 
so blank that Mrs. Percival noticed his dismay. 
“ Perhaps the rest of us will see more of you 
now,” she said, with a little laugh which flat- 
tered him in the midst of his perturbation. 

“ If you will take pity on a poor rustic, who 
will miss his old friends, I will try not to abuse 
your indulgence unduly,” Mr. Fenwick re- 
sponded. If I followed my thoughts in person 
I should bore you often.” 

That is a very kind way of putting it, 
when you know that I am not at all interesting 
to clever people,” said Mrs. Percival. I am 
sure you will soon be tired of me, but at all 
events we can miss Mrs. Floyd together.” 

“ That will be to And joy in sorrow,” Mr. 
Fenwick declared. The rest of the neighbor- 
hood must bear its loss without similar com- 
pensation. My poor little granddaughter, for 
instance — Mrs. Floyd is the one link that con- 
nects her with the outer world.” 

“Your granddaughter? How old is she 
now?” Mrs. Percival inquired, with that 
37 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


cordiality which entailed much boredom upon 
her from people whom her graciousness en- 
couraged to lengthy confidences. She liked the 
old gentleman well enough, and she looked at 
him with the sympathy of an affectionate sis- 
ter. If she sometimes forgot what you had 
told her at your last meeting, she was always 
ready to listen most charmingly while you told 
it again. Mr. Fenwick, thus assisted by Fate, 
poured forth Effie’s praises, and Mrs. Percival 
discovered hitherto unsuspected merits in his 
manner of bringing her up — merits which per- 
haps had not arisen from any great fore- 
thought on his part, but which he promptly 
took to himself. And you mean to tell me 
that you have a granddaughter nearly eight- 
een? It seems absurd,’’ she declared. ‘‘Does 
anybody believe you when you say it? ” 

“ My youth is so thoroughly a thing of the 
past that I no longer even regret it,” said Mr. 
Fenwick. “ Now with you it is quite different.” 

“ But I can’t fib ever so little about my age,” 
said Mrs. Percival, plaintively, “ for there is al- 
ways Sidney.” 

Koy Trevor came strolling across the room, 
sent by his wife to say something nice to old 
Mr. Fenwick, for whom grandmamma had al- 
38 


EFFIE’S FIRST IMPRESSION 


ways had a great regard, and Mrs. Percival 
began obligingly to descant on the rumored 
charms of the unknown damsel. Do you 
know, Roy, Mr. Fenwick’s EfiBe is almost nine- 
teen, or is it eighteen? — and he is going to 
allow her to go about a little this summer. 
Isn’t it delightful? I wish I had a pretty 
daughter to chaperon. I’ve had no one at all 
since Spriggy and Clip married.” 

We must have her at the Club,” said 
Trevor, who had never heard of Mr. Fenwick’s 
Effie, but had received his instructions, and 
moreover was most anxious to induce the old 
gentleman to part with his meadow-land for 
the new golf course. We are always glad to 
see a pretty girl there. They say it’s going to 
be quite gay in June. I’m sure Clip would be 
delighted to matronize her. One of the Satur- 
day dances would be the thing, wouldn’t it? ” 

We must give her a little dinner, as soon 
as there are a few young people to meet her,” 
said Mrs. Percival. “ Sidney will be so inter- 
ested when I tell him about her! ” 

Though not extraordinary guileless, this 
polite fiction, voiced in a tone of sincerity, gave 
infinite satisfaction to Mr. Fenwick. He began 
to have ambitions for Effie. 

39 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Perhaps for once a poor married man can 
have half a show with the new belle,” said Tre- 
vor, laughing. Tell her she ought to remem- 
ber that I^m her first friend, and not scratch 
my dances for Tom, Dick, and Harry the way 
most of the debutantes do after they’re well 
started.” Mr. Fenwick, gazing into the dim 
vista of futurity, already beheld his pet pur- 
sued by a crowd of eligible young men, but 
clinging with tender constancy to her grand- 
father. He saw in fancy the discomfiture of 
Mrs. Foster, and his own generous but decided 
triumph. His usually staid imagination played 
him strange pranks, and soared into altitudes 
of delightful improbability. 

We are all settled married people now. 
We need stirring up a bit,” said Trevor. I’m 
fond of girls myself. I should like to have one 
in the family. You must lend her to us, Mr. 
Fenwick.” 

What if I were to take you at your 
word?” cried the delighted old gentleman in 
a jocular manner. 

That is just what we want, don’t we, Mrs. 
Percival? ” said Trevor. Don’t retreat now. 
You’ve gone too far. My curiosity is aroused, 
and if we can’t borrow Miss Effie we shall bear 
40 


EFFIE’S FIRST IMPRESSION 


you a grudge for all eternity. It’s selfish to 
keep her to yourself. A pretty girl was made 
to be looked at.” 

By this time the trio was in quite a gale of 
merriment, and Mrs. Trevor joined the group 
to be informed in her turn of the great dis- 
covery, and to profess her delight and aston- 
ishment at the news. Mr. Fenwick was 
enraptured at the cordiality with which his 
overtures were received. It seemed to him 
quite fortunate, on the whole, that Mrs. Floyd 
had decided to let her house. Mrs. Townshend 
had gone with Bobby for a look at the newly 
christened Red House which was fast nearing 
completion. It was Mrs. Trevor who walked 
with Mr. Fenwick to the door. 

Then you would really like to see my 
Effie?” the beaming old gentleman de- 
manded as he shook hands with her on the 
steps. 

Yes indeed. I’m so sorry we go back to 
town to-morrow, but the next time we come up 
I certainly hope to make her acquaintance,” 
said Mrs. Trevor. I am sure we shall be good 
friends. Do you think she will like me, 
though? ” 

“ My dear young lady, she can not help lov- 
41 


FOUR-IN-HAND 

ing you as a sister! ” said Mr. Fenwick, with 
enthusiasm. 

Do you really think so? It would be so 
nice. You know,’’ said Mrs. Trevor, with a lit- 
tle tremor in her voice, I had no mother 
either.” 

Mr. Fenwick pressed her gloved hand with 
elderly fervor. She was very charming and 
must surely appreciate Efifie. Katherine, 
though an excellent woman, was invariably 
jealous of a pretty face. She did Mrs. Trevor 
the most cruel injustice. Never was there a 
sweeter or more unaffected young woman; 
never did one speak with a truer emotion than 
this much-discussed beauty. Never had he 
seen two ladies from whose society a young 
girl could derive more profit than Mrs. Trevor 
and Mrs. Percival. He waved a radiant fare- 
well to them from the carriage, and returned 
to his sister in a frame of mind so elated that 
she could not refrain from plying him with 
questions about his visit — questions which he 
evaded with a skill that startled him and 
aroused her indignation. He was amazed at 
his own diplomacy, and glanced at Effie from 
time to time with fond anticipation, but the 
young person, being still on her dignity in her 
42 


EFFIE’S FIRST IMPRESSION 


aunt’s presence, and having moreover met with 
a disagreeable adventure, made no response to 
his admiring gaze and sulked in a corner. 

To explain, if not to excuse. Miss Fenwick’s 
injured mood, it is necessary to revert to the 
moment of her grandfather’s departure, when, 
in a flurry of outraged dignity, the young lady 
had marched up-stairs to her own room, ar- 
rayed herself in the best her scanty wardrobe 
afforded, and sallied forth for the walk which 
she had announced her intention of taking. 
The roads were still muddy and the sidewalks 
few and far between. Effie scorned the vil- 
lage, so she turned her steps in the direction 
of the Club. At certain seasons of the year 
there was considerable passing, but now there 
was nothing to be seen save the long wall of 
Fortmounthouse, the stately yellow and white 
Colonial mansion with its air of old-time 
grandeur and modern comfort, the new red 
cottage, and the massive walls of Graystone, 
within which, had she known it, she was being 
discussed with such animation. She was far 
from suspecting her grandfather’s sudden 
subtleties, and thought only of her aunt’s well- 
meant injustice and of the general loneliness 
and dulness of her own neglected little exist- 
4 43 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


ence. She was feeling very badly used as she 
walked along Mr. Floyd’s gravel-path, and her 
sense of injury lasted until she turned and 
went down the hill again, and toward the vil- 
lage. So far she had not met a soul. There 
was no one to observe the defective fit of her 
jacket, the old-fashioned cut of her skirt, or the 
hated primness of her hat, yet the conscious- 
ness of these details weighed down her spirits 
like a millstone. It is sad to be forced to con- 
fess that a young person destined to be a hero- 
ine, in however small a way, was not above 
sulking over the shape of a pair of shoes, or 
being miserable because she was not allowed to 
wave her hair. She hated everything. She 
wanted to go away. She didn’t know what was 
going to become of her, wasting her life in the 
country. To crown all, it was certainly going 
to rain. 

To do Efifie justice, she was overmastered 
by that feeling of restlessness and impatience 
and indefinable longing for something beyond 
her reach which assails young and healthy 
people with such unconquerable force. Her 
blood tingled in her veins; her hands twitched 
with superfiuous vigor. She wanted some- 
thing, and the fact that she did not in the least 


EFFIE’S FIRST IMPRESSION 


know what that something might be was far 
from conveying a sense of comfort to her 
young vitality. She resented her inaction, the 
dull even tenor of her life, her aunt’s over- 
bearing care. She was excited and trembling, 
and could not tell why. She only knew that 
she was restless, dissatisfied, unhappy. 

The afternoon grew duller and grayer, and 
the clouds thickened overhead. A few drops 
of rain fell on her face, and for fear of a wet- 
ting she decided to take the short cut through 
Percival’s grounds despite the cross gardener 
and big dogs which detracted from the pleas- 
ure of well-remembered marauding expedi- 
tions. Alas! she was too old now to revel in 
climbing forbidden fences, but anything was 
preferable to being drenched, so she quickly 
made her way in at a small gate, and hastened 
past the house with its row of blankly shut- 
tered windows, down the terraced lawn and 
into the garden beyond. A strong wind shook 
the bare branches of the trees and the rain 
began to fall in great drops. Effie ran as well 
as she could in the soft wet path, but between 
mud and wind she made little progress. 

Finally at a particularly strong blast her 
hat, which had been tugging at its string, 
45 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


loosed its moorings and flew away. She 
watched it despairingly as it sailed over a 
hedge into a ditched field and caught on a 
clump of bushes between two trenches of 
muddy water, where it lay flapping with every 
fresh gust. As she stood ruefully surveying 
the ditches which stretched between her and 
her lost headgear, a gate near by slammed 
suddenly, and a large setter sprang on her 
with fringed paws plastered with mud. She 
gave a little scream and pushed him away just 
as a sharp whistle called him off. She looked 
around expecting to see her old enemy, the 
gardener; but her alarm was redoubled when 
she discovered that the dog’s owner, whoever 
he might be, was a person in evident authority. 

He was tall and broad-shouldered; he wore 
a rough tweed suit and a battered deer- 
stalker’s cap, and he was looking at her with 
a kind of indifferent curiosity. Her eyes met 
his in a frightened stare. She became wo- 
fully conscious of her bare head, of her 
unfashionable garments, even of her common- 
sense shoes, and yet the glance which he 
accorded her betokened no especial interest. 
Only as her embarrassment seemed to strike 
him he fixed his eyes keenly on her, and she 
46 


EFFIE’S FIRST IMPRESSION 


could not forbear an agonized wriggle under 
the brief torture of his scrutiny. She was im- 
pelled to stammer in explanation of her in- 
complete appearance, turning even redder in 
the effort, “ I lost my hat. It blew into the 
field.” It occurred to her with dreadful cer- 
tainty that this must be Sidney Percival. 

He followed her glance, perceived the hat, 
and without a word leaped the hedge, and 
wading among the submerged bushes, gained 
the prize and restored it to its owner. The 
water was streaming from his leggings and he 
looked anything but interested. Effie gasped. 
Oh, thank you! ” and walked off at a furious 
pace, carrying with her the unfiattering con- 
viction that he had rendered the service and 
received the thanks in an impersonal manner 
anything but gratifying to a nascent vanity. 
No doubt he regarded her as a trespasser, and 
his manner, while perfectly well-bred, had cer- 
tainly conveyed the impression that he con- 
sidered her an intolerable nuisance. In the 
novels with which she was in the habit of 
regaling herself, and from which she had 
drawn most of her views of life, young gentle- 
men were always delighted to restore a miss- 
ing hat or glove to distressed damsels, even 
47 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


though obliged to wade through acres of mud 
to accomplish the task, and they never missed 
an opportunity of following up an acquaint- 
ance so romantically commenced. 

Apparently she was too unattractive to be 
worthy of a second glance, or Mr. Percival was 
unfit to be judged by the story-book standard. 
He had been polite, but the most exotic 
imagination could not have found him gra- 
cious. Besides, if he were truly such a 
Lothario as Aunt Katherine had insinuated, 
why was he not handsomer? A tired man, 
bored, disgusted, poking about by himself in 
clothes that a groom might have worn, not 
even noticing whether the people he met were 
worth looking at or not! Was this the fasci- 
nating creature against whom her aunt had 
seen fit to warn the young person at large? 
And would he have looked twice at her if she 
had been dressed according to her own taste 
instead of Mrs. Foster’s? She hastened 
through the cross-road with a swelling throat. 
Never before had her own insignificance been 
so brought home to her, and he, the disagree- 
able creature, had made her feel it! For this 
seemingly trivial cause Miss Fenwick was 
downcast and silent all the evening. 

48 


CHAPTER V 


IN WHICH EFFIE BECOMES A BONE OF 
CONTENTION 

It seems that Mrs. Floyd’s tenants are 
acquaintances of mine,” Mrs. Foster announced 
one day after dinner. “ I met them in the 
village this morning. They have been up for 
another look at the house, and very likely they 
will call this afternoon, so I trust there may 
be some one presentable to answer the bell, 
and not to keep Mrs. Porter and her daughter 
waiting for half an hour on the cold porch as 
Mrs. Floyd had to wait last week.” 

“ If you hadn’t insisted on Delia’s blacking 
the grates that particular afternoon she would 
have been ready to answer the bell as usual,” 
said Effie, who had yet to learn the gentle art 
of holding her tongue. Not that it ever 
rings, but when I’m not interfered with at 
every turn the house runs more smoothly.” 

^‘You shouldn’t answer me in that way, 
49 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


when I speak only for your own good,” said 
her aunt. “ Don’t fancy that I enjoy the care 
of a house or the management of an imperti- 
nent young woman. I undertake them solely 
from a sense of duty, as you will realize some 
day after I am gone.” 

“ There’s no occasion for high tragedy that 
I can see,” said Mr. Fenwick, selecting 
feathers for a fly. Effie fldgeted in her chair. 
It had been dull all day, but the sun was just 
breaking through the clouds, and the strip of 
garden in front of the window looked rather 
inviting. Archie was leaning against the fence 
^ with his hands in his pockets, composing a 
poem on Spring. His aunt continued her dis- 
sertation. 

You will find the Porters excellent peo- 
ple, with several daughters and one son. They 
are very wealthy, connected with the Hoboken 
Oil Company, and extremely well-conducted. 
I hardly imagine that they can be acquainted 
with any of the people at the Club.” 

Effie shut her lips and determined on no 
account to like the Porters. How could she 
find Aunt Katherine’s friends congenial? 

“ You had better put on your brown dress, 
Effie. I can’t see why you will persist in wear- 
50 


A BONE OF CONTENTION 


ing that over-trimmed rag you have on,” her 
ingratiating relative continued, and by the 
way, I took the liberty of putting your bureau 
drawers and closet in order for once, so you 
will find all your collars in the top drawer 
where they belong. Who but you would ever 
have kept them in a tobacco-jar? ” 

At this culminating outrage Effie spoke no 
word, but marched grimly up-stairs to investi- 
gate the extent of the sacrilege committed 
upon that holy of holies, her top drawer. She 
jerked it open, and stood gazing into its 
depths at the neat rows of small articles laid 
out on a clean towel, then, with a sudden revolt 
against this monstrous infringement of her 
rights, she seized the drawer by both handles, 
and cast it ignominiously on to the floor. The 
bang resounded through the house and made 
Mrs. Foster jump in her chair. Collars, hand- 
kerchiefs, ribbons, lay in a heap at the feet of 
their outraged owner, with whose just wrath 
any young lady must sympathize, and who 
might have carried her demonstrations still 
further had not her ears caught the sound of 
wheels at the door. “ Horrid people, I suppose 
they have come!” she surmised, and went to 
the window to behold Roy Trevor alighting 
51 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


from a black and yellow dog-cart and giving 
some parting instructions to the groom who 
stood at the head of the bay cob. 

Effie stood with her hands clasped, survey- 
ing this bewildering dandy, whom she had 
never before beheld at such close quarters. It 
was generally conceded by their worst enemies 
that the Trevors were a handsome family, 
with fine figures, well-cut features, and a dash 
and vigor which redeemed their fair com- 
plexions from effeminacy, and this perfectly 
appointed creature seemed to her the com- 
posite of all her favorite heroes of romance, 
embodied for her especial delectation. If Per- 
cival had disappointed her, Trevor enchanted 
her. He was all the most exacting critic 
could demand, from the sweep of his yellow 
mustache to the bunch of violets in his but- 
tonhole. The bell rang, the door was opened, 
she heard him asking for her grandfather, but 
no summons came for her from below. It was 
just like Aunt Katherine not to call her until 
those stupid Porters arrived! She determined 
to go down without a special invitation. 
Wasn’t she the mistress of the house? So she 
descended with a beating heart, and found 
Trevor seated in the parlor, talking in the 
52 


A BONE OF CONTENTION 


most engaging manner to Mrs. Foster, while 
Mr. Fenwick disentangled fish-hooks from his 
coat preparatory to receiving company. She 
marveled at her aunFs unresponsiveness. 
How was it possible to be ungracious to a 
creature so frank and winning? 

If Mrs. Foster viewed from the safe van- 
tage-ground of the hall had seemed unappre- 
ciative of her good fortune, Mrs. Foster at 
close quarters was truly awful, for, seeing her 
grandniece enter unbidden, her lips folded 
ominously, and the temperature descended 
perceptibly. Fortunately Mr. Fenwick came 
to the rescue at this critical moment, or it 
might have fared ignominiously with Effie. 
As it was, she shook hands with the visitor, and 
settled herself, feeling that reenforcements 
had arrived. 

Trevor had, to tell the truth, quite forgot- 
ten Eflae’s existence, and had come with an 
ax to grind, but on seeing her he recalled the 
enthusiastic descriptions her grandfather had 
given of her, and looked at her with some inter- 
est. He was rather pleased with her than 
otherwise, and said pretty things to her in a 
paternal manner. He urged Mr. Fenwick to 
join the Club, and he delivered messages from 
53 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Mrs. Trevor, who had expected to call with 
him, but had been detained. No one would 
have suspected from his manner that he was 
there under protest, on behalf of the Governors 
of the Club, and that inwardly he was cursing 
his friend Percival in the most heartfelt terms 
for having flatly declined to transact the busi- 
ness for him. He coveted the meadow-land, 
but why on earth couldn’t Sidney have de- 
ferred his trip to Santa Barbara until some 
more auspicious time? He wasn’t generally 
so unaccommodating. So, after many blan- 
dishments, the unwilling ambassador gently 
hinted to Mr. Fenwick that his visit was not 
without a purpose, and carried him off ostensi- 
bly to inspect the poultry-yard, where the old 
gentleman raised fancy fowls with enthusi- 
asm, but in reality to broach the subject near- 
est his heart at the moment. As they went out 
he said something to Effie which her aunt was 
unable to catch, but of which the good lady 
promptly demanded an explanation. 

What did Mr. Trevor mutter to you just 
now? ” 

Mutter? He asked me if I wasn’t coming 
out to the poultry-yard with them, and I am, 
as soon as I can And my best jacket. I should 
54 


A BONE OF CONTENTION 


like to know where to look for it — in the wash- 
stand drawer, perhaps?” said Effie, with sca- 
thing sarcasm. 

In the proper place for a jacket. You 
should have no difficulty in finding it,” said her 
aunt; “ but you are not going to run after him 
in that manner. You will stay quietly here 
with me.” 

Effie went up-stairs, routed the coat out of 
her wardrobe, and hurried to the front door. 
Her aunt called to her twice, but she would 
not answer. She had very little desire to see 
Trevor again after Mrs. Foster’s insinuation, 
but she would endure no more, so she waited 
by the chicken-house until she saw her grand- 
father and his visitor returning from the 
meadows. Both seemed very well satisfied 
with the result of their colloquy, and they all 
walked back to the house together, talking like 
old friends. Effie was very confidential with 
him, as indeed she always was with those she 
favored. At the moment of parting Mr. Fen- 
wick cried out to him jocosely, Do you still 
expect to be taken at your word? ” 

More than ever,” said Trevor, with an 
illuminating smile at Effie. We are going to 
kidnap you, you know. Don’t forget me in the 
55 


FOUR-IN-HAND 

meantime. It’s generally my lot to be for- 
gotten.” 

But I sha’n’t see anybody else,” said 

Effie. 

Then may I hope that you will keep a 
dance for me? ” he asked, as he turned out for 
another carriage that was driving through the 
gate. The newcomers were evidently the 
Porters. 

Mrs. Foster, who had been watching the 
farewells from the window, was forced to 
defer the manifestation of her wrath and wel- 
come her friends with affability. Mrs. Porter 
was a stout middle-aged woman with an 
effusive manner. Her daughter was a bru- 
nette, very young, very pretty, and very fash- 
ionably dressed. The four ladies sat facing 
each other under the twin engravings of 
Mercy’s Dream ” and “ Charity,” Mr. Fen- 
wick having promptly disappeared. 

You live here all the year round, don’t 
you?” Miss Porter began. “ How do you like 
it?” 

Well, you see, I have never lived any- 
where else,” said Effie; but it is very lonely.” 

I think it’s perfectly lovely here!” said 
Miss Porter. “ I don’t see how it can be lonely 
56 


A BONE OF CONTENTION 


with the Club so near — but perhaps you’re not 
out yet?” 

No, I’m not,” said Effie, and I’m afraid 
I never shall be. I never see any one.” 

‘‘Don’t tell stories!” said Miss Porter, 
archly. “ Didn’t I meet Mr. Trevor as I came 
in?” 

“ He came to see grandpa. Isn’t he 
lovely? ” Effie cried with enthusiasm. 

“Yes, and so handsome! What a pity he 
is married! ” said Miss Porter. “ I think he and 
Sidney Percival are simply the most fascina- 
ting creatures I ever saw. I just rave about 
them till it’s positively shocking! ” 

“ Well, how any one can rave about Mr. 
Percival I do not see,” said Effie with decision. 

“ Oh, he’s so swell! ” Miss Porter exclaimed, 
clasping her hands over her card-case in the 
excess of her admiration. “ And such lovely 
eyes, and looks so well on a horse! I see him 
riding nearly every day with Mrs. Trevor in 
the park, and he’s simply divine — not exactly 
handsome, you know, but so awfully fascina- 
ting! ” 

“ Isn’t Mrs. Trevor lovely? ” Effie demanded 
with radiant admiration. “ I’m sure she’s an 
angel.” 


57 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


An angel? Oh, I don^t know,” said Miss 
Porter. Of course, dark eyes and blond hair 
are tremendously fetching. Fancy marrying 
your own cousin! ” 

^^Can you wonder that they adore each 
other? ” 

“ They say they don’t. I guess she and Mrs. 
Townshend both have a pretty gay time. 
Which do you think Mr. Percival is devoted to? 
He is always with one or the other.” 

^^As though she would look at him!” said 
Effie, indignantly. 

Of course, she’s too clever to compromise 
herself,” Miss Porter continued, in a very 
sophisticated manner which sat oddly on so 
young a person. 

Effie instinctively perceived that her idol 
was being traduced, and demanded severely. 
Do you know Mrs. Trevor? ” 

Her new acquaintance turned red, but said 
candidly, No, I don’t. You see, they are tre- 
mendously hard to know when you’re not in 
the same set, and if you do get an introduction 
to them, they never remember you the next 
time they meet you. I’m sure I’d give my eyes 
to know Mr. Percival, but, dear me! nobody has 
half a chance.” 


58 


A BONE OF CONTENTION 


Well, I don^t think I wish to know him,” 
said EflSe. 

I see mamma getting up, so I must say 
good-by,” said Miss Porter. “ Be sure you 
come and see me as soon as we are settled. 
I’ll let you know right away.” She gave Effie’s 
hand the fashionable high jerk, and followed 
her mother down the walk, leaving the decks 
cleared for action. 

On hearing the front door slam Mr. Fen- 
wick had returned to his flies, but before he 
could select a feather the battle burst around 
him. His sister entered the room propelling 
the unwilling Effie before her, and so fraught 
with portent was the atmosphere that he 
instinctively nerved himself for the fray. 
George,” said Mrs. Foster in an awful voice, 
I beg you to speak to your granddaughter.” 

Effie jerked herself free from the hand of 
Nemesis. If it’s about the bureau drawers,” 
she cried, I won’t listen. And what’s more, 
I won’t stand it. Nobody would stand it! All 
the things are on the floor now, and if anybody 
dares to touch them again. I’ll throw them out 
of the window! ” 

I am not alluding even to that,” said her 
aunt. I am accustomed to seeing you disre- 
5 59 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


gard every wish of mine, but when your grand- 
father knows the truth about your conduct 
this afternoon, even he will have no excuse 
to offer for you. I was aware that your 
lawlessness knew no bounds, but when it 
comes to making appointments with strange 
men, of whose character you have been warned, 
who will ridicule you to their boon companions 

over their wine ” 

Oh, oh! ” cried Effie in rage and horror. 
What is all this row about?” her grand- 
father demanded helplessly. 

Mrs. Foster, thus appealed to, gave vent to 
all the rancorous eloquence of which an elderly 
relative is capable, and soared to those heights 
of oratory attainable only when the theme is 
the shortcomings of one’s next of kin. Effie’s 
conduct with Trevor was depicted in colors so 
black, and with such depths of unsuspected 
significance, that consternation temporarily 
deprived her of speech, and her aunt termi- 
nated her peroration uninterrupted, with: “ If 
you are unable to control her, George, it is time 
she left your charge. There are people who 
can mend her manners, if you can’t, and it is 
high time they were about it.” 

^^You sha’n’t talk to me so! grandpa, I 
60 


A BONE OF CONTENTION 


haven^t done anything/’ cried Effie. I won’t 
stand it. Need I stand it? ” 

Leave the child alone,” said Mr. Fenwick. 

You’ll ruin her disposition by this eternal 
faultfinding.” 

‘‘ It is wicked to allow that poor mother- 
less child to grow up in lawless ignorance,” 
Mrs. Foster declaimed; and some day she will 
give you cause to bitterly repent your foolish 
indulgence.” 

Effie’s sobs here became tempestuous, and 
she fiew like a small whirlwind to her grand- 
father, crying, Don’t let her take me away! 
I won’t go! I won’t! I want to stay here with 
you. I don’t care if I never see another soul — 
I want to stay! ” 

Of course you sha’n’t go,” said Mr. Fen- 
wick. What did I tell you, Katherine? Look 
at this poor child! By Gad, it’s a shame! If 
she is to be taught manners. I’ll find some one 
besides you to teach her. I’ll consult Mrs. 
Trevor.” 

The two elderly people glared at each other 
in consternation. Each had gone further than 
had at first been intended, and neither pro- 
posed to retreat an inch. Mr. Fenwick’s slow 
anger had been kindled by this onslaught on 
61 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


his pet, and his menacing reference to Mrs. 
Trevor, ’while it seemed preposterous, was 
nevertheless most alarming to his sister. Ef- 
fie’s sobs and gasps of mingled terror and 
temper sounded in the silence from her grand- 
father's shoulder. 

“ If you do,” said Mrs. Foster after the 
pause, I will never forgive you.” 

Pooh-pooh! Nonsense! ” said her brother. 

Mrs. Foster turned on her heel and left the 
room to pack her trunk. She had no intention 
of quarreling permanently with her brother, 
but her dignity demanded vindication, and she 
proposed to convince him of the fact that she 
was not to be trifled with. Her departure 
must inevitably bring him to his senses, and 
an abject apology might induce her to return. 
Mr. Fenwick, however, was far from appearing 
properly contrite. He expostulated a little, it 
is true, and told her she was very foolish, 
which was not what she wanted, and they 
parted without capitulation on either side, 
leaving the bone of contention once more to 
her own devices. 


62 


CHAPTEK VI 


IN WHICH FAMILY MATTERS ARB FREELY 
DISCUSSED 

April came and went in uneventful 
fashion for the Fenwicks, with nothing more 
interesting to watch than the swelling of the 
trees into leafage, and the sodding of the 
greens on the new golf course into which a 
Scotch expert was transforming the meadow 
lots. At Fortmounthouse the great lawn was 
growing greener and more velvety every day, 
the ivy and honeysuckle showed their delicate 
sprays against the walls, and the beds were 
gay with tulips and hyacinths. Mrs. Town- 
shend’s cottage was finished and its mistress 
installed in it. Her tennis-court was already a 
center of attraction to people from the Club, 
and the Porters, who had come early to Gray- 
stone, watched her guests from their windows 
with a wistful eye. It was there that Mr. 
Floyd disported himself in an orange sweater, 
and was seen to drink six mint juleps running. 
Here also came the Trevors, strolling over the 
63 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


lawn in sociable fashion under the same white 
parasol, and Percival, who generally rode from 
the Club and smoked a pipe while the others 
played. The grass was still a little damp and 
chilly, and warm clothes were not unwelcome 
when the game was over, but the wicker chairs 
and bright cushions looked quite picturesque 
and oriental, and those who felt shivery could 
always seek the open fire which burned in the 
hall. 

It was on one of these cool days early in 
May that Trevor, resuming his coat after a 
game of tennis, inquired of his hostess, Did 
Clip tell you that the Child is coming home? 
He has had enough of Dakota, and we may pre- 
pare to kill the fatted calf about next Thurs- 
day.” 

“ The great beauty of Jim is that you can 
never tell what he is going to do next,” said 
Mrs. Townshend. 

“ I shall be quite glad to see him again,” 
said Mr. Floyd. “ Things aren’t so dull when 
he is here.” 

“ Oh, I’m always glad to see him myself,” 
Trevor remarked. Dear old Child! When 
he’s just come, or just going, I’m awfully fond 
of him.” 


64 


FAMILY MATTERS DISCUSSED 


I^m fond of him when he’s here,” said Mrs. 
Trevor. 

Well, he’s your brother. One ought to 
like one’s relatives, even if one doesn’t,” Mr. 
Floyd observed pensively. “ What are you 
going to do with him? Turn him out to 
grass? ” 

‘^Turn him over to Spriggy. She has a 
kindergarten already,” said Trevor. 

“ I wouldn’t mind in the least,” said Mrs. 
Townshend, obligingly. ^ It’s only a question 
whether my waning charms will be powerful 
enough to hold him.” 

By the way, Sidney,” said Trevor, seating 
himself beside his friend, Clip wants me to 
talk seriously to the Child about his extrav- 
agance, and living within his income, and all 
that, but you know very well how much good 
it would do, and he’s got a nasty temper when 
he’s bothered. What’s the use of having un- 
pleasantness in the family? He won’t stand 
advice from me, and he will from you. I wish 
you’d just put it to him clearly, and explain to 
him why he can’t fool with his principal for a 
couple of years at least.” 

It seems to me that as you’re his trus- 
tee — ” Percival began. 

65 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Ah, that’s just why he won’t listen to me. 
I have also the disadvantage of being his 
brother-in-law. He doesn’t find me disinter- 
ested or something of the sort, and he tells 
Clip that w^omen don’t understand business,” 
Trevor interpolated. Now he’s fond of you, 
and he may possibly heed what you say.” 

So you think I’m going to say it? ” 

Why, of course you are,” said Trevor, 
laughing, “ and it will be the greatest possible 
relief to both of us. Clip will give me no peace 
until the thing is done, and you are the only 
one who can do it without fearful scenes of 
carnage. I can’t stand rows.” 

I know nothing about his confounded 
little affairs,” said Percival, sadly. 

“ Clip will tell you. She has a wonderful 
head for such things, in spite of the Child’s 
crushing scorn,” said Trevor. “ Thanks aw- 
fully, old man!” 

Come, Roy, I must tear you away. You 
know we have people to dinner,” said Mrs. 
Trevor. 

As the Trevors strolled homeward, Mr. 
Floyd surveyed their vanishing figures reflect- 
ively. Chummy, aren’t they? ” he com- 
66 


FAMILY MATTERS DISCUSSED 


merited. I hear that Mrs. Beverly is expected 
again.” 

I wonder why that woman is so attract- 
ive?” Mrs. Townshend mused. She doesn^t 
know how to do her hair, and her clothes look 
as if they had been dropped on her by the hand 
of Providence, but she’s tremendously fetching 
all the same.” 

Well, if I were Clip,” Mr. Floyd observed 
meaningly, I shouldn’t be quite so intimate 
with her. It’s my belief that she fancies Roy.” 

“ A woman like Clip need not fear a rival 
whose hairpins are all over the place,” said 
Mrs. Townshend. 

Mr. Floyd was pounding green mint in the 
bottom of his glass. “ Anyhow, he’s too lazy 
to run after any woman,” he said. He would 
get Clip to breathe for him if he could — and 
she’d do it, too, little fool! I was glad when 
he had to attend to the golf-course, whether 
or no. By the way, I hear old man Fenwick is 
sick. Mother wrote me to go and inquire, but 
I can’t be bothered.” 

Dear me, I’m sorry to hear of it,” said 
Mrs. Townshend. He is a nice old thing, and 
grandmamma always thought a great deal of 
him. I must send to inquire to-morrow.” 

67 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Now have they carried the vermouth 
back to the house? ’’ Mr. Floyd demanded in 
poignant anguish. I was inspired at that 
moment to invent a new drink. Fll go and 
get it.” 

He will certainly kill himself,” said Mrs. 
Townshend, as he departed. Percy and I 
were up with him all Tuesday night, and I 
know he will die in one of these attacks. He 
says so himself, yet see how he eats and 
drinks.” 

“ He has the constitution of an ox,” said 
Percival, unfeelingly. ‘ While we have a mo- 
ment of peace, I want to ask you about the 
hospital. You said something the other day 
about a new operating room. If you will give 
me an idea of what you need, I will have them 
send you some estimates next week.” 

I hadnT the assurance to ask for it, after 
all you have done already,” said Mrs. Town- 
shend, but since you so kindly suggest it, the 
Board of Managers accepts with thanks on 
the spot. It is beautiful to feel that we can 
have what we need without giving some horri- 
ble catch-penny entertainment to raise the 
necessary sum. But donT hurry about it, Sid- 
ney, for we canT have the workmen in before 
68 


FAMILY MATTERS DISCUSSED 


August, and I know you have a good deal on 
your hands at any time.” 

Things are running quite smoothly at 
last,” said Percival. I know now what I 
ought to do, and how to do it, but it has taken 
me an absurd time to learn. The rudiments 
of business come hard when a man has turned 
thirty, and I always hated the sort of details 
that I have been wallowing in for the past four 
or five years. I wish I had never discovered 
how Uncle Maturin had been robbed.” 

“ Oh, but surely you are glad you found out 
the condition of those Chrystie Street houses,” 
Mrs. Townshend protested. 

“ I believe your idea of bliss is demolishing 
an old tenement and erecting a model one in 
its place,” said Percival, “ and I am about to 
offer you the chance of a lifetime. There are 
three more of them that must come down, and 
you can run the whole show if you like, and see 
that poor old Hobson isnT cheated again about 
the building materials.” 

“ I wouldn’t employ a person like that, and 
then do all the work myself,” said Mrs. Town- 
shend. 

Percival groaned. He was with Uncle 
Maturin for twenty years, and he weeps when 
69 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


pensions are mentioned in his hearing. How- 
ever, the poor old ass can’t live forever, and 
you wouldn’t care to hurt his feelings. I’ll tell 
him that you and Kendal are to decide about 
the plans. I’m thinking of going to China with 
Jones next month.” 

Good heavens!” Mrs. Townshend ejacu- 
lated. 

Jones is sent out by a syndicate,” he went 
on, and I thought it would be a good chance 
for me to do some sketching. I suppose I may 
be permitted to paint occasionally, if I don’t 
sell my pictures? ” 

“ I don’t see why you care to go there 
again,” said Mrs. Townshend, frankly discon- 
solate, ‘‘just as you are getting really inter- 
ested in the things you ought to do.” 

“ My dear Spriggy, that sounds very 
pretty,” said Percival, “ but what sort of a life 
is this for an able-bodied man to lead? I am 
sufficiently inoculated with the prevailing 
earnestness to feel that it is wrong to allow 
one’s principal to accumulate, and still, I lack 
the conviction that all this laborious tearing 
down and building up is the right thing after 
all. Of course, the estate has got to be man- 
aged, and I promised the old man I would stay 
70 


FAMILY MATTERS DISCUSSED 


here and attend to it, but I want to get away 
somewhere for a while, where I can breathe 
and be free. It’s absurd to speak of it — I’m 
never sick — but this thing is getting on my 
nerves. I want to go where I’m not held re- 
sponsible for other people’s dirt and ignorance 
and immorality. Then I can shoulder my own 
sins in peace and enjoy life as though I were a 
comfortable pauper.” 

“ Then you stay here only because you 
promised Uncle Maturin? ” 

And for one or two other reasons which 
do me very little credit,” said Percival, “ so I 
think I had better go.” 

“Yes, if you feel like that. I understand 
that the care and responsibility must be very 
wearing, and the pleasure not what it ought 
to be, in proportion — and he never expected 
you to bear it alone. But doesn’t it make you 
happy to think of all you have done to make 
those poor people comfortable, and give them 
the best of everything they need? ” 

“ My dear girl, if my money hasn’t been ab- 
solutely worthless, I must thank you for it,” 
said Percival. “ As to what it can do under 
your management, that work goes on better 
without me than with me. You administer 
71 


FOUR-IN-HAISTD 


far more sensibly than I could, and I get the 
credit for it.’’ 

If I do it well, it is because I love it so, and 
because I have the best help in the world from 
you. And I shall so miss talking things over 
wdth you! ” sighed Mrs. Townshend. Well, I 
suppose you know what you want.” 

I’m not so sure of it,” said Percival. He 
shook the ashes out of his pipe, and thrust it 
into his pocket. I shall inform Bobby of my 
intentions when I’m ready to start,” he said, 
holding out his hand to his hostess. I only 
bothered you with this to-day because the time 
is uncertain, and I know you for a methodical 
person.” 

His horse was at the door, and as he 
mounted and rode off, Mrs. Townshend stood 
watching him, so absorbed in her own re- 
flections that she was unaware of Mr. Floyd’s 
reappearance, with a glass of his own con- 
coction in his hand. Just taste this and tell 
me whether it’s fit to drink,” he said. I 
waited till you and Sidney had done flirting 
before I came out.” 

We were doing something far worse in 
your eyes,” said Mrs. Townshend. ^‘Talking 
hospital.” 


72 


FAMILY MATTERS DISCUSSED 


Charity covers a multitude of sins/’ he 
observed knowingly. 

I’m sorry for Sidney,” she said, absently 
sipping her beverage. 

“ Sorry for that lucky beggar? Well, what 
next?” cried Mr. Floyd. 


73 


CHAPTER VII 


IN WHICH MR. FENWICK REGULATES 
HIS AFFAIRS 

^^This is the last thing I expected,’^ said 
Mr. Fenwick. To be sure, iPs the last thing 
that any one can expect, but I can’t say that 
I find much consolation in the reflection.” 

He was bolstered up in a reclining chair 
by one of the front windows, before which he 
was wheeled every afternoon. From this spot 
he could watch the antics of Robin and Henry, 
the arrival of the doctor’s sulky, and the pass- 
ing of an occasional butcher’s cart. Effie sat 
opposite him, trying to mend stockings, and 
blinking hard lest the mist in her eyes should 
resolve itself into noticeable tears. Archie, 
lounging on the sofa, twisted a bit of cord un- 
easily through his fingers, and kept his gaze 
on the carpet. 

“ I’m sorry to be obliged to mention it,” 
said Mr. Fenwick apologetically, but it must 
74 


AFFAIRS ARE REGULATED 


come sooner or later. Have the boys been to 
the post-office? 

Yes. There was no mail,” said Effie. 

“ It is strange I don^t hear from your aunt. 
Are you sure the letter was posted?” he in- 
quired. 

I posted it myself, fully two weeks ago,” 
said Effie. 

That was the second letter, too,” said 
Archie. 

Are you sure you stated matters 
plainly?” 

“ Yes, Grandpa, very plainly,” said Effie 
with a rising sob. 

“ Perhaps you had better write again, and 
tell her the doctor’s verdict,” said Mr. Fen- 
wick. 

“Grandpa, I don’t believe it. I won’t!” 
cried the poor girl with a burst of grief. “ He’s 
mistaken. You will get well!” 

“ Now don’t distress yourself, my dear,” 
said the old gentleman mendaciously. “ Still, 
it will do your aunt no harm to know what he 
says.” 

“ It strikes me she’s extremely unfeeling,” 
said Archie, savagely. “ Why hasn’t she writ- 
ten, or at least telegraphed? Nobody wants 
her to come.” 


6 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


“ I certainly expected her to come,” said 
Mr. Fenwick. 

I^m thankful she didn’t,” said Effie. If 
there’s anything to be done for you, you know 
you would rather have me do it, and the nurse 
knows more than she would, and anyhow, 
haven’t we all we can bear without seeing 
her?” 

It’s pretty hard in her — pretty hard to 
bear malice this way,” Mr. Fenwick mused. 

Still, she’s my only living relative aside from 
you. I won’t apologize to her, if she does ex- 
pect it — still you might write once more.” 

“ Grandpa, there’s one thing I must say to 
you,” said Effie with a sudden excited determi- 
nation. If you’re going to be sick like this 
for a long time, I want to take care of you my- 
self. I don’t want her here. And if that dread- 
ful thing should happen — of course it won’t, 
but if it should — what shall we do? Don’t 
make us go to her! You know how she is. We 
couldn’t bear it! ” 

She flung her yarn on the floor, and sub- 
sided into a miserable little heap beside 
her grandfather’s chair, burying her face in 
the quilt which covered his useless feet, 
and trembling with grief and apprehension. 

76 


AFFAIRS ARE REGULATED 


DonT let us go to her! ’’ she urged. ‘‘ Prom- 
ise me you wonT! ” 

Mr. Fenwick^s heart hardened against his 
sister at this outburst. If Effie regarded her 
with such dread, it was plain that the poor 
child had a dreary future before her, yet what 
was to be done? Katherine was his only 
standby, and a decision of some sort was im- 
minent. Who but his sister could act as the 
children’s guardian? — and yet here were Effie 
plunged into a tempest of tears at the very 
mention of her aunt’s name, and Archie sul- 
len and wretched in his corner. Resentment 
against her past unkindness grew in his heart. 
Why could she not have conducted herself 
more graciously? Why did she not evince a 
more forgiving spirit? She was hard — too 
hard — to be entrusted with the management 
of four self-willed young people. The unhappy 
gentleman was prepared to accept the inevi- 
table with philosophy on his own account, but 
the thought of what it would mean to his 
grandchildren destroyed his peace of mind. 
“ You will all have your own money, you 
know,” he said, soothingly, and Archie will 
soon be of age.” 

But Effie’s apprehensions were not .thus to 
77 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


be allayed, nor Archie’s gloom to be dispelled, 
and it was only the daily visit of the doctor 
that broke up the tragic little conclave. 

As the days went on without bringing an 
answer to Effie’s second letter, the general 
gloom increased, and Mr. Fenwick’s native 
cheerfulness deserted him as the disease made 
perceptible progress. He could still use his 
hands, but each day was oppressed with a 
haunting- fear that its successor would find 
him unable to move a finger. Effie had mo- 
ments of hope for his ultimate recovery, but 
they gradually became briefer and fewer, and 
the terror of Mrs. Foster’s sway deepened even 
the shadow of her impending loss. Mr. Fen- 
wick regretted the absence of the Floyds, who 
might have acted as a buffer between the be- 
reaved minors and their natural guardian, 
whom he found more unnatural as the days of 
his life drew rapidly to a close. From outside 
scources he learned that his sister had gone to 
Scotland for the summer. He sent for a lawyer 
from town, and assured Effie that she should 
not go to her aunt. Other lawyers followed 
and were closeted with him in his room; 
neighbors called to inquire, and went away 
looking concerned. Even Mrs. Percival came 
78 


HIS AFFAIRS ARE REGULATED 


in answer to a message delivered by the doctor, 
but Effie had been crying so long that day that 
she would see no one, and the old gentleman 
received his visitor alone. The lawyers came 
once more, and it was shortly after this last 
conference that Mr. Fenwick had his third 
stroke, and died without a further opportunity 
of reassuring his grandchildren, and the vil- 
lage and the hill were of one accord in showing 
their respect for the departed gentleman by 
attending his funeral. Mrs. Foster’s lawyer 
also attended in behalf of his absent client, 
who had cabled her intention of returning at 
once, and every one pitied the poor children in 
the absence of their natural consoler and 
guide. 


79 


CHAPTER VIII 


PROVES THE DEPLORABLE CONSEQUENCE OF 
TAKING A WINK FOR A BID 

Mrs. Trevor leaned forward in her chair 
with excitement animating her lovely features. 
Her husband was standing before a tall clock, 
in an attitude of utter and dejected astonish- 
ment. Percival sat astride a tiny gilt and 
white chair with his hands clasped over the 
filigree back. His expression suggested hope- 
less resignation. Mrs. Beverly glanced from 
one to another in the hope of extricating her- 
self from her bewilderment. It^s the most 
extraordinary thing!” she said. I don’t 
understand even yet how it could have hap- 
pened.” 

Well, as nearly as I can explain it,” said 
Trevor, tugging at his moustache, Mr. Fen- 
wick, the inconsiderate old person whose 
funeral I attended under protest on Fri- 
day ” 

And an old friend of grandmamma’s and 
Mrs. Percival’s,” his wife interpolated. 

80 


A WINK FOR A BID 


Yes, confound him! Well, as I was say- 
ing, Mr. Fenwick — Oh, see here, Sid, he must 
have been insane! The thing can’t possibly 
hold. If the sister would only file a protest 
she could get her rights. Hang it, she must 
file a protest! ” 

^^Oh, dear, what did he do?” cried Mrs. 
Beverly in tragic accents. 

He made a will — the most preposterous 
thing!” Trevor declared. 

“ Having apparently quarreled with his 
sister and only surviving relative,” Percival 
added, staring at the ceiling. 

No, that’s just the trouble. If she were 
the only surviving relative we shouldn’t object 
in the least,” said Trevor, but she isn’t. 
There are a quantity of grandchildren. How 
many, Sid? ” 

Four, I believe,” said Percival. 

And four guardians,” said Mrs. Trevor. 

I think myself it was a little odd in him not 
to consult us before taking such an impor- 
tant step, but he evidently had no time, poor 
thing! ” 

“Time? — he knew we wouldn’t consent,” 
said Trevor. “ His dying just now was a piece 
of pure malice on his part. If he had lived he 
81 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


would have patched up his family difficul- 
ties instead of foisting them onto our shoul- 
ders.” 

“ Mr. Percival, won’t you tell me what this 
is all about?” Mrs. Beverly entreated, appeal- 
ing to him as a last resort. 

I can try,” said Percival, speaking in care- 
fully measured tones. This misguided old 
gentleman has conferred upon us the doubtful 
honor of appointing us joint guardians and 
trustees to his — well, er — grandchildren, and 
executors of the estate, to the exclusion of his 
sister, with whom, I understand, there were 
difficulties before his demise. The victims are 
Mr. and Mrs. Trevor, my mother and myself. 
He has set forth his reasons in writing — a sort 
of posthumous apology. Roy and I are to 
transact the necessary business, and mother 
and Clip are to exert the necessary influence 
in forming manners, and so forth. A lawyer 
waited upon me yesterday in town to inform 
me of the pleasing news, and of course I came 
here post-haste to see if you had heard it too. 
And that is all I know about it.” 

“ But I didn’t know that people could do 
such things without the consent of the persons 
involved,” Mrs. Beverly objected. “ Look on 
82 


A WINK FOR A BID 


the bright side of things as long as you can. 
Perhaps the will isn’t binding.” 

‘‘That’s what I say!” said Trevor. “The 
old fellow couldn’t have been in his sane mind.” 

“ Unfortunately our only evidence of that 
is the will itself,” said Percival. “ Everything 
else points the other way. He was particu- 
larly sane in the way he disposed of that last 
lot of meadow-land, and got a particularly 
pretty price for it.” 

“Can’t we get out of it somehow? Why, 
it’s fearful! ” said Trevor, indignantly. “ What 
did he mean by foisting off four children and 
their property on us to look after? I tell you, 
Sid, there must be some way of crawling out 
of it!” 

“ I’m afraid mother and I can’t honestly do 
it,” said Percival, regretfully. “ You see, she 
owns that she did rather commit herself. She 
says she wanted to soothe his last moments, 
and she didn’t believe he really meant it.” 

“ That’s all very well, but there is the old 
lady. Of course she will make a fuss,” said 
Trevor with an access of hopefulness. “ And 
I’m sure we shall none of us oppose her if she 
wants to break the will and have herself ap- 
pointed guardian.” 


83 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Unfortunately, he has left her some- 
thing,” said Percival, and she can hardly 
plead undue influence.” 

“ What induced the malicious old man 
to do such a thing?” Trevor demanded. 
“ I’m sure I never gave him any encourage- 
ment! ” 

Well, if you will pardon my being quite 
frank with you, I have no doubt that you did,” 
said Percival. Now, honestly, didn’t you? 
Mother owns to it, and I dare say Clip might 
do the same. Perhaps I should have myself 
if he had attacked me on the subject, but he 
didn’t. The trouble is, one never expects to 
be taken au pied de la lettre. You were flgura- 
tive, but the old gentleman was literal — dis- 
tressingly so!” 

Of course it isn’t pleasant for you, but all 
the same you needn’t abuse him, poor old 
man!” said Mrs. Trevor. ‘‘He paid us the 
greatest compliment in his power.” 

“Compliment? Base flattery!” said her 
husband with concentrated irony. 

“ As for abusing him, I’ve been remarkably 
moderate in the terms I have applied to his 
conduct,” said Percival. “ And as for its not 
being pleasant for me — I trust you don’t labor 
84 


A WINK FOR A BID 


under the delusion that the supervision of four 
uncivilized young persons is going to be 
especially delightful for you!’’ 

I’m sure he said they were all angels,” 
said Mrs. Trevor, and Koy came home quite 
enthusiastic about the girl the day he saw 
her. Perhaps it won’t be so bad after all.” 

There must be some way of throwing up 
the whole thing,” Trevor persisted, turning 
appealingly to Percival. “ I’m not particular 
about retreating gracefully, so long as I’m 
enabled to retreat at all.” 

I don’t think we have any right to retreat. 
Perhaps the aunt wasn’t kind to them,” said 
Mrs. Trevor. 

“ My dear girl, don’t try to enlist my sym- 
pathies for them! Even you can’t deny that 
we’re in an impossible position,” said Trevor. 

We are standing between this old lady and 
her rights, and heaven knows it’s through no 
preference of ours!” 

I dare say it is largely your own fault, as 
Mr. Percival suggests,” said Mrs. Beverly, 
laughing unkindly. “ When Mr. Fenwick 
broached the subject of his grandchildren to 
you, I’ve no doubt that you and Clip were so 
inviting and sympathetic and cordial that he 
85 


FOUR-IN-HAND 

was quite excusable for taking you at your 
word.’’ 

Well, if I did say so, I didn’t mean it, and 
he might have known it!” said Trevor, in- 
definitely. 

Percival smiled involuntarily, and brought 
his eyes down from the ceiling to Mrs. Trevor’s 
face. Well, since to my regret the will ap- 
pears to be legal and binding, it becomes clear 
that we ought to do something at once,” he 
said. “ Mother is willing to follow your lead 
in all things. Until Mrs. Foster does show a 
disposition to fight, we can’t assume that she 
will.” 

I suppose somebody ought to call there at 
once,” said Mrs. Trevor in response to his inter- 
rogating glance. “ Roy, you know them.” 

I won’t go,” said Trevor fiatly, not even 
to oblige you.” 

I can’t go, for I have asked some people 
for tennis, and I am afraid they are coming,” 
said Mrs. Trevor. “ Sidney, will you? ” 

“ Couldn’t you go to-morrow? ” he inquired. 

“ I haven’t a moment to-morrow, or indeed 
this week. Really, Roy, I think you ought to 
go. It wouldn’t be like seeing an absolute 
stranger.” 


86 


A WINK FOR A BID 


^^Now, Sidney, you see how it is!” said 
Trevor. You say I’m not to be trusted, and 
yet you thrust me into the very jaws of the 
lion. I know perfectly well that to get away 
in peace I shall promise them not only the half 
of my kingdom, but all of yours to boot. 
You’ll have to go yourself.” 

Percival laughed, and made an impatient 
movement. 

“ I’m glad you can extract amusement 
from the situation,” said Trevor. Since the 
idea appears to please you so much, you might 
go this afternoon — convey our sympathy and 
all that sort of thing, and take an inventory 
of the family.” 

And say that I am honestly coming next 
week, and come back and tell us all about it,” 
said Mrs. Trevor. “ You will be just in time 
for tea.” 

Very well,” said Percival with resigna- 
tion. As well one time as another.” 

I suppose you will have to ask them here,” 
said Mrs. Beverly, and a depressed silence 
ensued. 

Mrs. Trevor was the first to rise to the oc- 
casion. “ Well, fortunately, there is plenty of 
room,” she said with a brave attempt at cheer- 
87 


FOUR-IN-HAND 

fulness. “ I dare say we shall get along very 
well.’’ 

We ought to take our share,” said Perci- 
val. “ Why not let them come to us? ” 

No. You have the most room in town, 
and we have more here,” said Mrs. Trevor. 

Say that we are ready for them whenever 
they choose to come.” 

‘‘But don’t be misleadingly cordial!” Tre- 
vor entreated maliciously. 

“ That poor girl is there with no one to take 
care of her,” said Mrs. Trevor, “ and it’s dis- 
tinctly unkind not to invite her here. I know 
nothing about the rest, but I fancy we can 
manage about them. Keally, Sidney, it’s aw- 
fully good in you to go at all, but if you don’t 
make haste we sha’n’t have the pleasure of see- 
ing you again this afternoon.” 

Percival rose with reluctance. “ I shall 
make a blunder of it,” he said, disparagingly. 
“ However, I don’t know that it makes any 
particular difference, so good-by for the 
present.” 


88 


CHAPTER IX 


HIS PRIVATE OPINION 

It was under no misapprehension as to the 
magnitude of his undertaking that Percival 
set forth on his mission, nor could he delude 
himself with hopes of being able to shirk the 
responsibilities thus thrust upon him, for he 
knew his coadjutors. Trevor was unwilling 
to manage even his own affairs, and Mrs. 
Trevor, though executive, was already over- 
burdened with cares too heavy for her years. 

If only his mother had been more discreet. 
If only they had given him a chance to get well 
started toward China! As he sat in the cheer- 
less parlor, awaiting the advent of his wards, 
his position assumed an aspect of complete 
absurdity. Here he was, acting as deputy for 
the rest, usurping the place of an outraged 
natural guardian, empowered to make prom- 
ises which were unlikely of fulfilment, unless 
89 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


he took matters into his own hands, and all 
with the utmost ignorance of everything con- 
nected with the unwelcome necessity which 
lay before him. Tired as he was of conducting 
his own affairs, he was still more averse to act- 
ing as deputy to other people, and in this un- 
congenial pursuit the greater part of his life 
had been passed. The Fenwicks assumed the 
proportions of white elephants as he con- 
sidered their case in the unattractive parlor 
for fully fifteen minutes, during which time 
Effie was arraying herself in her one black 
gown and supererintending the cleansing and 
smoothing of the younger portion of the 
family. 

When at length she descended, with much 
inward trepidation, marshaling the younger 
boys before her, PercivaPs patience was nearly 
exhausted, and he made no pretense of cor- 
diality as she entered the room, shyly and 
blushingly furiously. She lacked the presence 
of mind even to bid him be seated, but stood 
with downcast eyes by the door, while the 
children stared curiously at the visitor. 

Percival felt sorry for the girl in a general 
way, and cast about in his mind for a few 
words of polite condolence, which sounded 
90 


HIS PRIVATE OPINION 

very lame to him as he offered them, then, as 
she still remained standing, he placed a chair 
for her, having no intention of conducting a 
lengthy interview on his feet. With your 
permission, I will sit down,” he remarked 
with a certain discouragement. It appeared 
that the girl had no tongue. 

I didnT think! ” said Effie. Half the time 
I don’t know what Fm doing, it has all been 
so dreadful! ” 

Of course I realize that, and I am sorry 
to intrude on you. Miss Fenwick,” said Perci- 
val, “ but we thought there might be some- 
thing we could do for you. My mother and 
Mrs. Trevor send their love and sympathy, 
and asked me to find out when you can see 
them. Mrs. Trevor was prevented from com- 
ing this afternoon, but she will be here next 
week without fail.” 

“ It’s very good in her,” said Effie in a small 
voice. 

Of course you know the terms of Mr. 
Fenwick’S will,” said Percival. ^‘You must 
pardon my alluding to it, but it is better that 
we should understand each other from the 
start. I heard of the arrangement only this 
morning, and we all feel that if you have any 
7 91 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


preferences in the matter they should be con- 
sulted at the outset. It would be only natural 
if you were to feel that you didn^t care to be 
placed in the charge of strangers, and I hope 
you won’t hesitate to speak frankly, for it 
might be possible to have the will changed by 
mutual consent.” 

Oh, no, no indeed!” said Effie vehement- 
ly and tearfully. You don’t know Aunt 
Katherine. Oh, I couldn’t bear it for a day! 
Grandpa said I needn’t, and I sha’n’t.” 

Percival was rather shocked by this sud- 
den and violent outburst. “ Pardon me. I had 
no idea you felt so strongly on the subject,” 
he said. I thought you might be glad to be 
with your own people. Later I believe Mrs. 
Trevor expects you to come to her for a 
while. I ought to tell you,” he went on, that 
in case you don’t care to be where there is a 
good deal going on just now, you might find 
our house quieter than the Trevors’. My 
mother would be glad to see you at any time, 
and you should not be disturbed.” 

Oh, I would rather be with Mrs. Trevor,” 
said Efiie, hastily. 

As you like,” said Percival. 

92 


HIS PRIVATE OPINION 

“ I know you consider us a great nuisance,” 
said Effie. My only consolation is that I 
know Mrs. Trevor is lovely, and will be good 
to me.” 

Percival laughed. You wonT find my 
mother an ogress either,” he said. 

Aunt Katherine said all sorts of things 
about Mrs. Trevor,” Effie went on, as if she 
knew! But I^m sure I shall adore her.” 

Percival looked at her sharply and bit his 
lip. This was evidently not a discreet young 
person. She^s a charming woman,” he said. 

Unless you expect the impossible, you won’t 
be disappointed in her.” 

Yes, Grandpa said I should love her 
dearly, and since he is gone,” said Effie, with 
a little choke in her voice, there is no one 
I should be so glad to stay with.” 

“ Perhaps you have plans of your own? ” 
Percival hazarded. “ Were you thinking of any 
particular school for the fall? ” 

For the boys? I suppose they ought to 
go somewhere, though I don’t know whether 
they will when it comes to the point,” said 
Effie. Archie, my eldest brother, you know, 
wants to go to college, but he never can pass 
on mathematics.” 


93 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


^^But with regard to yourself?” said Per- 
cival. 

Do you mean that I am to go to school? ” 
Effie demanded indignantly, sitting bolt up- 
right. 

I didn’t know that you had finished your 
education,” he replied a little argumentatively, 
for the boarding-school project was too good 
a one to be relinquished for light reasons. 

But I was eighteen my last birthday, and 
Pm sure Grandpa never sent me to school. It 
was Aunt Katherine who always talked about 
that,” said Effie belligerently. I’m sure, Mrs. 
Trevor was married at eighteen.” 

“Well, if you are married at eighteen I 
shall have nothing to say about your further 
movements,” said Percival. “ I had an idea 
that all girls wanted to go away to school.” 

“ I have an idea that you don’t know much 
about girls,” said Effie, and then turned very 
red at her own daring. 

Percival laughed. “ I am likely to learn,” 
he said. It occurred to her that he was laugh- 
ing, not at the brilliancy of her repartee, but 
at her awkwardness in making it, and this sus- 
picion did not enhance his attractions in her 
eyes. 


94 


HIS PRIVATE OPINION 


‘‘ What do you expect to do with yourself 
if you don’t go to school?” he asked. 

“What do other people do? They go to 
places, don’t they?” said Effie with asperity. 

“But while you are in mourning?” he ob- 
jected. “ I’m afraid you will find time hang 
very heavy on your hands.” 

“ I don’t care. I won’t go to school,” said 
Effie. “Did Mrs. Trevor go to school?” 

“ Oh, well, you can discuss that with her,” 
said Percival hopelessly. 

“ She wouldn’t advise anything so horrid,” 
said Effie, “ and neither would Mr. Trevor. I 
see plainly that you are the one who is going 
to make it hard for me.” 

Percival found this unanswerable, and for- 
tunately at that moment Archie came in to 
discuss his own projects. Meanwhile at Fort- 
mounthouse his arrival was awaited with im- 
patience. Bobby Floyd had scented news from 
afar, and was arguing with Mrs. Beverly on 
the outcome of events. Trevor lay on a 
bamboo sofa in the morning-room, reading a 
French novel. He turned on his cushions with 
a sigh which betokened comfort of a high 
order. Evidently he had succeeded in forget- 
ting the Fenwicks. If this were the case it 
95 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


was most inconsiderate in his wife to recall 
them to his mind, as she presently did. Seat- 
ing herself on the edge of the sofa, and folding 
her hands in her lap, she observed, ^^Now, 
Eoy, if you don^t mind, I must talk to you for 
a few minutes.” 

Ah, why can’t you let me forget them in 
comfort?” he said, reproachfully. 

When we have talked it all over once, it 
won’t be necessary to mention it again,” she 
reminded him. 

If you want my opinion on the subject, I 
tell you frankly that beyond considering it a 
beastly bore, I have no opinion whatever,” 
said her husband. 

I suppose you don’t really mind having 
them here for a while? They needn’t interfere 
with you, you know,” said Mrs. Trevor. 

I mind very decidedly, but that is all the 
good it will do! AVe existed in peace without 
them, which is more than we are likely to do 
with them. Their advent means that Sidney 
will be busier than ever, and of no earthly 
good to any one, and that you will be monopo- 
lized and neglect me shamefully. There will 
be no more joy beneath my own vine and fig- 
tree, because of that doddering old imbecile 
96 


HIS PRIVATE OPINION 


and his precious ^ four-in-hand/ Spare me, 
Clip, spare me!” 

I have never neglected you, even for 
baby,” said Mrs. Trevor, taking his book away 
from him, but how can you expect my un- 
divided attention when you wonT give me 
yours? ” 

Trevor threw his arm around her. We 
have been so comfortable!” he sighed regret- 
fully, as though comfort were already a thing 
of the past. 

Well, since it can’t be helped, there is 
nothing to do but make the best of it,” she 
answered, I doubt your being bothered 
much with it after all.” 

Oh, I sha’n’t be if I can help myself,” he 
agreed with an access of cheerfulness. But 
I hate to have you devoting all your time to 
them, and you will, you know.” 

Do you think I neglect you, dear? ” she 
asked, appealingly. There are always so 
many things to be done, and somebody must 
do them. Often and often, when I would 
rather be with you, there is some tiresome 
matter that must be settled first. Other peo- 
ple can’t do it for us, and w^hen it is expected 
of us we can’t disappoint everybody. As it is, 
97 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


we impose on Sidney. I hate to have him do 
so much for us.” 

“Just running about!” said Trevor, slip- 
ping the rings up and down on her fingers. 
“ He doesnT mind it. He’s one of those people 
who would rather shoulder another person’s 
responsibilities than let them go begging. 
Thank heaven, I’m not.” 

“ I’ve thought of rooms for all except the 
little boys,” said Mrs. Trevor, “ and what shall 
I do with them? ” 

“ Kill them,” said Trevor. 

“ Darling, you’re shocking, and besides, 
you make such useless suggestions,” she ex- 
postulated. “ Dear me, why doesn’t Sidney 
come? ” 

“You’re a heartless little wretch to indi- 
cate so plainly that you’re tired of me already,” 
said Trevor. “ It is all the fault of those red- 
headed imps. Why on earth you didn’t clutch 
at the chance of sending them at once to the 
Percivals’ I am at a loss to conjecture, but 
let us dismiss the painful subject.” He drew 
her hand across his lips, and was caught in the 
act by Mr. Floyd, who entered indiscreetly. 

“ We are waiting for Sidney,” said Trevor, 
reluctantly quitting his lounge. 

98 


HIS PRIVATE OPINION 


Oh, yes, where is he?’^ Mr. Floyd de- 
manded. 

Perhaps he is performing his duty too 
conscientiously,’’ Trevor suggested. He’s 
very thorough.” 

She must be an uncommonly fetching 
girl!” said Bobby with conviction. ‘^What’s 
her style? ” 

Well, she’s not tall,” said Trevor. She’s 
not thin. She has pretty features, nice com- 
plexion, and red hair.” 

That is lovely if it’s not too red,” said 
Mrs. Trevor. 

“ But it generally is,” said her husband. 

No one having the energy to dispute this 
statement, a silence ensued, broken at length 
by Bobby, who remarked with resignation. 
Well?” 

King for tea. That may bring him,” said 
Trevor. 

“ There are wheels now,” said Mrs. Beverly. 

A moment later Percival entered the room 
and seated himself provisionally upon an otto- 
man, with an air of intense dejection. 

Don’t keep us in suspense. We want to 
hear your adventures, you know,” Mrs. Trevor 
reminded him. 

99 


A.ofC. 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


In the form of a drama,” her husband 
added. 

No, don^t turn serious matters into a 
farce,” said Mrs. Beverly. 

My dear friend, that is precisely the 
thing I intend to do if I possibly can,” said 
Trevor. Go on, Sidney. Act first, scene 
first.” 

Oh, very well,” said Percival, obediently. 

Act first, scene first: the outside of a house. 
A new stanhope and two restless horses stand- 
ing in a foot of mud under a varnish-blister- 
ing sun, while a patient and long-suffering 
stranger rings the door bell three times at 
intervals of five minutes.” 

‘^Very touching. I’m glad I didn’t go. 
Scene second?” said Trevor. 

A parlor,” said Percival, with fiy- 
specked engravings, haircloth furniture, wors- 
ted mats of a bright Hibernian green, and plas- 
ter of Paris ornaments like dirty meringues. 
The stranger seats himself in a chair by 
the window, hooks his heels into a couple of 
convenient holes in the carpet, and waits. 
Enter heroine, surrounded with healthy-look- 
ing children. She accords her visitor a wel- 
come, which, in this weather, has the merit of 
100 


HIS PRIVATE OPINION 


being cool, and after some preliminary skir- 
mishing they proceed to business.” 

Hold on a minute. How does she look? ” 
Bobby inquired, eagerly. “ I hear she’s a 
stunner.” 

You will soon have an opportunity of 
judging for yourself,” said Percival. 

She seemed a nice enough little thing 
when I saw her,” said Trevor. ^^Very fresh 
and artless, and all that.” 

It wouldn’t be fair in me to judge her by 
what I saw this afternoon,” said Percival. 

Of course it must have been very trying to 
her. I know I felt like a reporter.” 

Did you interview her?” Mr. Floyd in- 
quired with lively anticipation. 

I’m afraid I did,” Percival admitted, re- 
luctantly. I really didn’t know what to say 
to her. And she — well, she naturally resented 
it.” 

“ Showed temper, eh? ” Mr. Floyd surmised. 

Ked hair! ” 

Don’t be uncharitable. They may succeed 
in making something of her yet,” said Mrs. 
Beverly, as one might speak of a hopeless 
reprobate. 


101 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Percival made no response, but looked ex- 
tremely dubious. 

It really isn’t so hopeless for you. You 
can pack her off to school, you know,” she went 
on encouragingly. 

She won’t go,” he replied, sadly. 

“Won’t go? Then she evidently considers 
herself finished,” said Mrs. Beverly. “ I under- 
stand her grandfather considered her quite a 
paragon.” 

“ Well, tastes differ,” said Percival. “ She 
may be one.” 

“ The only thing that now remains,” said 
Mrs. Trevor with a sigh, “ is to tell us that her 
manners are bad.” 

“ I don’t think you could call them good,” 
said Percival, thoughtfully. 

“ Well, let us have the rest,” said Trevor, 
dismissing poor Effie for the nonce with a wave 
of his hand. 

“ There is Archie,” said Percival, “ a youth 
with an excellent opinion of himself, brilliant 
hair, and an incipient moustache. He is will- 
ing to try Yale, and I had no scruples about 
assuring him that he should have every op- 
portunity of making the experiment.” 

“ An excellent w^ay of disposing of him 
102 


HIS PRIVATE OPINION 

for the next four years/^ said Trevor, approv- 
ingly. 

“ If they let him stay so long,^^ said Bobby, 
significantly. What next?’^ 

There are some things that should be 
passed over in silence,’’ Percival answered. 

Two of them. I strongly advocate a distant 
boarding-school or a hogshead for both.” 

It is quite plain that Miss Fenwick has 
failed to create a favorable impression on 
you,” said Mrs. Beverly. 

No doubt she returns my feelings with 
interest,” said Percival, indifferently. I de- 
livered your various messages, and came away 
with the cheering conviction that I had made 
a blunder of the whole thing. And now, while 
we may, let us talk of something else.” 

Mrs. Trevor, who had been refiecting in si- 
lence for the past few moments, now spoke 
with compunction. Do you know, I’m 
ashamed of myself. Poor thing! We are dis- 
cussing her as though she were a hideous sofa 
that could only be tucked out of sight in the 
garret, but I suppose she has feelings, for all 
that. Suppose grandmamma had left me all 
alone like this, and the only relation I had in 
the world had quarreled with the family! ” 

103 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


By the way, she bursts into tears at the 
very mention of the aunt^s name,’’ said Perci- 
val. 

Then the aunt can’t be at all the proper 
person to take charge of her,” said Mrs. Trevor 
with decision. And when I remember how 
I dreaded the thought of going away to 
school ” 

But, my dear girl, you might have liked 
it!” her husband interrupted. 

Well, I’m very, very sorry for them all, but 
most of all for Effie,” said Mrs. Trevor, “ and 
I’m not going to speak of her any more as I 
have this afternoon. Bobby, will you ring for 
tea? And when she comes, I hope you will all 
remember that she’s alone in the world, and 
be just as nice to her as you can.” 

I suppose it’s not her fault that she’s a 
nuisance,” said Percival, sadly. 

And as she’s not an impecunious orphan, 
you will have no difficulty in marrying her off 
in her first season,” said Mrs. Beverly conso- 
lingly. 

In about a week,” said Trevor, sadly, 
“ this festive tea-table — or rather, the place 
where this festive tea-table ought to be — will 
be enlivened by four — well, out of regard for 
104 


HIS PRIVATE OPINION 


Clip’s feelings we will call them pink-headed 
Fenwicks. We shall have to alter our habits, 
our conversation, our convictions — for all I 
know we may be obliged to reform — and all 

for the senile whim of a ” 

Ah, thank heaven,” Bobby interrupted, 
‘‘here comes Burke with tea!” 


105 


CHAPTER X 


A THUNDER-STORM 

Being a person of her word, Mrs. Trevor 
allowed no grass to grow under her feet when 
once she had announced her friendly inten- 
tions toward the Fenwicks; and nothing could 
have been more cordial or reassuring than her 
manner of taking the helm. Her manner sug- 
gested little of that executive ability which 
was the salvation of her lazy husband and the 
admiration of her friends. She was radiantly 
youthful, softly appealing, with an air of con- 
fiding the inmost secrets of her soul to her 
fiattered listener. If, as Efifie had heard, she 
were a very proud woman, if the indexible 
spirit of the late Madam Trevor animated this 
exquisitely incongruous tenement, the fact 
was admirably disguised. 

The transplanting of the Fenwick family 
was effected with less friction than might have 
been expected, for when Mrs. Trevor deter- 
106 


A THUNDER-STORM 


mined to make the best of a bad business, few 
could fall in with the decrees of fate more 
gracefully than this resolute young woman. 
She did not cope quite single-handed with the 
situation, for Percival, moved by her plight, 
succeeded in melting the obduracy of Robin 
and Henry with regard to stabling their 
piebald goat in their bedroom, and frequently 
took them fishing or sailing. As for. the other 
guardians, Trevor was becoming convinced 
that nothing was expected of him, and Mrs. 
Percival airily ignored the situation. 

Apart from the fact that few people can 
remain indifferent to a fervent admiration, 
Mrs. Trevor had found Effie companionable, 
warm-hearted, honest, and eager to please, and 
her sympathies were genuinely enlisted in be- 
half of the girl so curiously thrown into her 
charge. She had besides the longing of a ca- 
pable woman to “form” the young person 
whose devotion made her adaptable and imita- 
tive, and in a short time she felt that she could 
point with pride to the results of her training. 
Effie was sitting by a window in the great hall, 
watching the tiny sails on the river below, as 
they scurried before a gathering thunder- 
storm, like n flock of bewildered geese. The 
8 107 


FOUR-IN-HAND 

strong wind blew eddies of dust along the for- 
mal paths of the Dutch garden, and the borders 
of marigolds and larkspur bent almost to the 
gravel. Up the terraced lawn and under the 
arches which spanned the converging walks 
Mrs. Beverly and Jim Trevor came running, 
but the great drops were splashing on the flag- 
stones by the porte-cochere before they reached 
its shelter. The willow trees lashed, and the 
wicker chairs on the piazza rocked, while the 
servants hurried about, dragging rugs and 
cushions under shelter. In the broad window- 
seat at the opposite side of the hall Mrs. 
Trevor and Percival were sitting in one of 
those intervals of silence which are tolerable 
o^nly when two people know each other ex- 
tremely well. The beauty’s eyes rested with 
satisfaction on Efifle’s trim outlines, shown to 
their best advantage in a white frock which 
was the quintessence of smart simplicity. Her 
hair, too, in defiance of Mrs. Foster’s mandates, 
was elaborately waved at top and sides, and 
dressed low in her neck with a huge black bow. 
There were little curls around her face, and 
her general appearance was such as to make 
her feel at peace with all the world. It is true 
that she would have been happier at the mo- 
108 


A THUNDER-STORM 


ment if Percival, on his way home from the 
golf-course, had not come in to wait until the 
storm blew over, but that w’as only a tempo- 
rary eclipse of her general satisfaction with 
her surroundings. She loved the great house, 
the deferential servants, the ceremony and the 
luxury; she loved the glimpses of gayety from 
which even her mourning could not altogether 
debar her, the atmosphere of youth and pleas- 
ure; above all she loved the beauty, who seemed 
to her the fairy godmother who had rescued 
her from her dragon of a great-aunt. So she 
contented herself by remaining at a distance 
during PercivaPs frequent visits, and thanked 
heaven that she saw no more of him. 

How you frightened me, all for nothing! 
said Mrs. Trevor finally, as the girl left the 
room to speak to Mrs. Beverly. You gave 
me the impression that she was hopeless, and 
I own to you now that I was in despair. Where 
were your eyes? Did you ever see any one 
wear her clothes better, or look prettier when 
she is properly dressed? 

She looks different, certainly,” he ad- 
mitted.’ 

But donT you think she is nice? ” 

She never speaks to me,” said Percival. 
109 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Now, Sidney, have you taken one of your 
absurd prejudices? You said yourself that you 
ought not to judge her by that first interview. 
The poor child was horribly embarrassed. She 
has told me about it.’^ 

‘‘ I fear she has taken one of her prejudices 
against me,’^ said Percival. It may not be 
absurd, however.” 

But couldn^t you see that she was 
pretty? ” 

I donT think I looked at her. I didn’t 
like to stare, and anyhow, it never occurred 
to me” 

Well, look at her now, standing on the 
piazza. She can’t see you.” 

She’s all well enough,” said Percival, but 
nobody would look twice at her besides you 
and Spriggy. If you want to make a beauty 
of her you should get a plain woman to 
chaperon her.” 

Can’t you forgive her for altering your 
plans? I know you wanted to go to China, 
but that doesn’t make her unattractive, does 
it?” 

I’ve just had another letter from Mrs. Fos- 
ter,” said Percival. “ She still maintains that 
we are iniquitously withholding her natural 
110 


A THUNDER-STORM 


privileges from her. It requires an answer. 
What do you want me to say? ” 

Conciliate her as far as possible, but don’t 
give in to her,” said Mrs. Trevor. Efhe is 
going to be happy while she is young, if I can 
accomplish it for her. I don’t want her to be 
obliged to marry in order to do as she likes — 
and then probably be disappointed.” 

It is the common lot,” said Percival. 
“ However, you seem to succeed where other 
people fail. Am I to tell Mrs. Foster, then, 
that Miss Fenwick is well and happy, and does 
not desire to make a change?” 

It isn’t fair that all the interviewing and 
writing to that unpleasant old lady should 
fall on you,” said Mrs. Trevor, remorsefully. 
“ You can never come here nowadays without 
being asked to do something troublesome. 
You shouldn’t make it so easy for us to impose 
upon you. It is not alone this trustee busi- 
ness, but everything else as well. You wear 
yourself out in our service — as though you 
hadn’t enough of your own to keep you 
busy.” 

“ My dear friend, don’t talk nonsense,” said 
Percival. “What do I do that you and Roy 
don’t do for me? In fact, it’s awfully good of 
111 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


you to let me hang about the house in this way. 
If you will only let me be of some use, instead 
of an unmitigated nuisance, I shall feel more 
comfortable.” 

“ That is what you say to Roy, and I wish 
you would not. He believes you,” said Mrs. 
Trevor, and I donT. We want you to feel at 
home here, and we do not expect you to attend 
to all the disagreeable matters which we are 
too lazy or selfish to settle ourselves. Some- 
times I am sorry you didn’t go away as you 
intended, and force us to do our duty, instead 
of foisting it all on you.” 

“ This is a dreadful frame of mind,” said 
Percival, and you are not making home happy 
for me. I’m deeply gratified, though. It is the 
first time I have ever been accused of over- 
zealousness in my calling.” 

If it were even for your own people — ” she 
persisted. 

You are as much my own people as any I 
am ever likely to have,” he said. 

And I know how much you wanted to get 
away.” 

You are too good to me. Clip. If you will 
only manage to keep happy, that is the best 
thing you can do for me.” He laughed as he 
112 


A THUNDER-STORM 


spoke, turning what might have been serious 
into a mere pretty speech, and as such and no 
more the beauty received it serenely. 

Don’t you want to see your godson’s new 
tooth? ” she asked, and headed a devotional pil- 
grimage to the nursery. 


113 


CHAPTER XI 


A CHANGE OP AIR 

The dusk was shrill with the first crickets, 
and the turf that bordered the piazzas was 
drenched with dew, as Miss Fenwick’s skirts 
attested. She had been for a postprandial 
stroll with Trevor, down to the bluff, through 
the rose-garden, and home by the north gate, 
while the matrons of the party engaged in 
their endless chit-chat about people as yet un- 
known to her, and young Jim and Percival 
talked horse, dawdling up and down on the 
gravel. Now the lights were burning low in 
the hall, and a gusty damp wind scattered the 
petals of the late roses in their bowls on the 
wicker tables. It was not a comfortable night. 
The atmosphere was fraught with something 
intangibly restless and ominous. Mrs. Beverly 
was to leave Fortmounthouse the following 
morning. It now occurred to Effie that it had 
been rather unprecedented in Trevor not to 
choose her for his companion on this last even- 
ing of her stay, and the omission gave her a 
lurking satisfaction. Trevor was far nicer 
114 


A CHANGE OF AIR 


away from her, and talked about things that 
one could understand, without any of those 
irritating references to people and places 
which smote unfamiliarly upon the young per- 
son’s ear, and which were now wafted to her 
as she ascended the shallow flight of steps 
which led to the piazza. I’m glad she is go- 
ing, and we shall be by ourselves,” she was 
thinking, when a threatening little tag of a 
sentence arrested her attention. Mrs. Beverly 
had said, ‘‘ But you can let me know about that 
when you write from Newport.” 

At the door Mrs. Trevor joined her and 
slipped her hand through the young person’s 
arm, while her husband subsided into her va- 
cant chair, the end of his cigar glowing in the 
dark under the honeysuckles. Eflfie’s uneasi- 
ness deepened. She knew something was 
going to happen. 

Well, it is really settled at last,” the 
beauty began. Until an hour ago I could 
not induce Roy to make up his mind, but he 
has finally decided that he will go to the Win- 
chesters’ with me for a fortnight, and then join 
Herries Duane on a cruise to Bar Harbor and 
meet me at the Melvilles’ the first week in Sep- 
tember. It is a great relief to have him know 
115 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


his own mind at length, for these few visits 
have been hanging over our heads for two 
years, and he does so hate stopping with older 
people who expect to make his engagements 
for him. So we go to Newport next week. Of 
course I shall be coming back often to see the 
baby — Spriggy has promised to look at him 
every day — but there will be no one left here 
but Jim, so Mrs. Percival would like to have 
you make her that visit you promised — you 
and Archie and the children.’’ 

Effie’s lip quivered. I didn’t expect you 
would really go,” she said. 

Neither did I, Koy is so uncertain, and I 
hate to go without him, but if I don’t take ad- 
vantage of this mood it may be two years more 
before it comes again. I wish you were going 
too,” Mrs. Trevor added. You would have 
such a good time. But of course, until you 
regularly come out, it is better not to be too 
much in evidence. Mrs. Percival is one of the 
most delightful people to stay with. I’ve no 
doubt you will enjoy yourself more than I 
shall.” 

“ Oh, yes, she is very nice,” said Efifie, dole- 
fully, but I shall miss you dreadfully, and 
besides, I would rather go anywhere else.” 

116 


A CHANGE OF AIR 


“ Oh, my dear, as though it made any dif- 
ference what happened months ago! Do you 
suppose he remembers it? ’’ the beauty asked. 
“ And what was it to begin with but a question 
of boarding-school? You know you have been 
on perfectly good terms since then, and he is 
really anxious to make things as pleasant for 
you as possible.” 

I wish there were no such thing as going 
away,” cried Miss Fenwick. 

Sometimes I wish so too,” said Mrs. Tre- 
vor, rather dismally, although people would 
get very tired of each other if there were not.” 
The pacing footsteps on the gravel had ceased 
and three fiery eyes glowed in the corner 
under the honeysuckles. Your slippers 
must be wet, Effie. Hadn’t you better change 
them? ” 

Miss Fenwick slipped up-stairs to repair 
the damages that the dampness had wrought 
in her usually charming appearance and re- 
turned some time later in a state of mind so 
nearly tragic that she hated the thought of 
facing the others in the music-room, where she 
could hear Mrs. Beverly’s practised fingers 
trilling out an accompaniment to one of her 
own songs. The library door stood open, with 
117 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


no light but the gray from outside, and no 
sooner had she crossed the threshold than the 
tears which had been trembling on the verge 
for some time burst forth unchecked, bidding 
fair to make a little pool on the table where 
she leaned her head. 

The click of one of the French windows 
roused her from her lamentations, and to her 
intense chagrin she beheld PercivaPs unmis- 
takable figure outlined against the dusk. She 
sat quite still, hoping to escape his observa- 
tion as he covered the intervening space, but 
unfortunately he was bound for the table at 
which she sat, and an uncontrollable sniff 
betrayed her presence even before he reached 
her. Since her arrival at Fortmounthouse she 
had not exchanged a dozen words with him, 
nor had he shown a desire for a more intimate 
acquaintance. All necessary negotiations be- 
tween them had been carried on by the diplo- 
matist Mrs. Trevor, and if there had been no 
further clash, neither did the former foes show 
evidence of desiring to stray in the paths of 
peace. Ordinarily he would have remarked 
that it was very damp and promptly left her 
to her own devices, but the very patent sniff 
and the sense of his impending increase of re- 
118 


A CHANGE OF AIR 


sponsibility now urged him to say, “ I’m afraid 
you are upset about something.” 

Anybody might be,” she answered in an 
aggrieved tone, and pushed her chair back. 

“ Don’t let me drive you away. I only came 
in for some wind-matches,” he said, hastily. “ I 
hope it is nothing serious? ” 

It’s quite serious enough, though I sup- 
pose you think I ought to be enchanted,” the 
young person observed defiantly. 

I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” 
said Percival. 

“ Perhaps you don’t know that we are go- 
ing to make you a visit? ” she hazarded. 

“ We are looking forward to it with great 
pleasure, I assure you,” said Percival. 

Oh, you needn’t try to be polite, for I 
know you hate it as much as we do,” she went 
on, checking the course of a tear that mean- 
dered down her cheek. “And you needn’t 
laugh, either.” 

“ I am not laughing. Nothing is further 
from my thoughts,” he protested. “Would 
you mind telling me what I have done to offend 
you? ” 

Effie was put to her trumps to answer this 
question, and ended by saying nothing, but it 
was an accusing silence. 

119 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


If all this unhappiness is due to the pros- 
pect of spending a few weeks under the same 
roof with me/^ he finally remarked, ‘‘ I beg 
you to believe that you are troubling yourself 
unnecessarily. I am very little at home in any 
case, and I can always go away.” 

Oh, if you only would!” said Effie. 

At this aggressively rude speech Percival 
could not forbear a smile, though his gravity 
up to that point had been admirable, and Effie, 
who always suspected him of finding her ridicu- 
lous, waxed scarlet and furious and allowed 
him to leave the room without striving to miti- 
gate her incivility. Nevertheless, as she sat 
weeping on the divan, it dawned upon her that 
it was somewhat unprecedented behavior to 
request a man to leave his own house, and that 
common decency required an apology from her 
reluctant lips. Presently she dried her eyes 
and listened to Mrs. Beverly’s contralto, first 
vailed, then throbbing out on the stillness: 

“ I have brought poppies for thee, weary heart — 
White poppies heavy with sleep. 

Ask Grod if He’ll give thee ere we part 
One little dream to keep. 

Then sleep, sleep ! 

Why should we wake to weep ? ’ ’ 

120 


A CHANGE OF AIR 


“ That’s a very silly song,” the young per- 
son observed vindictively to Jim, who came in 
search of her. 

In spite of her red eyes and her aversion 
for dreary songs, Effie had followed her com- 
panion into the hall and stood looking in at 
the quartet in the music-room. Trevor was 
standing by the piano. Percival was study- 
ing the design of the side brackets over Mrs. 
Trevor’s head. He was the first to break the 
silence by remarking, thoughtfully and im- 
personally, “ Yes, one is capable of any folly 
when one doesn’t sleep.” 

Mrs. Beverly rose and gathered up her 
music. “ I may be in the proper state to com- 
mit a dozen by morning,” she said, “ but at 
least, at the unconscionable hour at which I 
start, they will have no spectators. I may em- 
brace the shrubbery and cast myself full 
length upon the beloved croquet ground, but 
you will all be sleeping peacefully and will 
never be the wiser. And in view of my horrid 
departure I’m going to retire.” 

“ It’s a shocking train,” Trevor protested. 

“ How can I reach Pride’s to-morrow by 
any other? — and I with relatives-in-law ex- 
pected!” she demanded. Oh, it’s of no use. 

121 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


We might stay talking here until doomsday, 
and still there would be only one thing to say 
— and that is, Good-by.” 

I shall get up,” Trevor announced with 
heroism. He followed her to the foot of the 
stairs. After a while Mrs. Trevor and Jim 
joined them. There seemed to be so much to 
say, and so short a time to say it in, that their 
lips could utter only trivialities, still, She 
feels badly about going,” Effie reflected. Then 
she noticed that she was left alone with Perci- 
val, and seized the bull by the horns. 

Mr. Percival,” she said with hasty cour- 
age, “ I ought not to have said that. I — I hope 
you won’t go on my account.” 

Not if I have your permission to stay,” 
said her guardian politely, and, it is to be 
feared, mendaciously, for never had he con- 
sidered her a greater thorn in the flesh. 

Trevor came back and lit a fresh cigar. 

We’re all blue and grouty,” he said, but 
you needn’t look as if you had lost your last 
friend, Effie. You are not bound for the de- 
lights of Mother Winchester’s. Gad, how I 
wish I had never agreed to make those infernal 
visits!” 

So do I,” said Effie, mournfully. 

122 


A CHANGE OF AIR 


But you mustn’t cry about it, you know,” 
he said paternally and drew her out on to the 
piazza once more, regardless of the fact that 
the friend of the family was left alone. “ It’s 
awfully good of you to care whether we go or 
stay, but we can’t let you spoil your eyes. 
Thank heaven, it won’t last forever, and I’ll 
send you something nice every day if you’ll 
only make the best of it and not mope.” 

I wish I didn’t always show it when I 
cared,” said Effie. “ Everybody thinks you so 
foolish.” 

I like to see a woman show some feel- 
ing,” he assured her. There are few enough 
of them who do.” 


9 


123 


CHAPTEE XII 


IN THE enemy’s COUNTRY 

The Fenwicks had been installed for a week 
at The Cedars, and the younger portion of the 
family was making itself extremely at home. 
Now, as Effie sat with her hostess on the piazza 
watching the moon rise, Kobin and Henry sped 
round and round the fountain in pursuit of 
their piebald goat, while their nurse from the 
path vainly lured them bedward. Percival, 
the only person whose mandates they pre- 
tended to heed, was lingering over his cigar 
in the dining-room, having dined at home for 
the first time since his wards’ arrival. Archie 
remained with him, puffing a cigarette — Archie 
in immaculate evening dress and with a lordly 
and sophisticated air, discoursing knowingly 
of sporting life, the quality of his guardian’s 
sherry, the latest gossip of the Club as retailed 
by Mr. Floyd. By the way, I suppose you’ve 
got your tickets for Tuesday night? ” he re- 
marked. Bobby says they will sell only a 
124 


IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY 


limited number, and of course there will be a 
rush for them by people from town.’^ 

You mean Crowley and Moore, I sup- 
pose? ’’ said Percival. “ No, I wouldn^t be 
hired to go. Salter’s is worse ventilated than 
the Black Hole of Calcutta. I don’t fancy a 
crowd in the dog-days, even if the show is some- 
thing I care about.” 

But it’s going to be the biggest fight you 
ever saw!” Archie protested, quite scandal- 
ized at his guardian’s indifference. “ If Moore 
can lick Kid Gruman he can certainly stand 
up to Crowley. I say he ought to be good for 
fifteen rounds, though Bobby heard from a 
man who knows him that he isn’t in as good 
training as when he fought Gruman.” 

“ It is a nuisance having it so near,” said 
Percival. “ Every stable boy in the place will 
be drunk, and poor old Rowson will break the 
pledge for the twentieth time unless I invent 
some pretext for sending him to town the day 
before. It is always so when there’s a slugging 
match.” 

I’m surprised you are not going,” Archie 
persisted. I wouldn’t miss it for my best 
girl.” 

“ Without wishing to appear officious,” said 
125 


FOUR-IN-HAND 

Percival, I would suggest that it might be 
as well if you and Jim didn’t figure as patrons 
of the prize-ring. There was some talk of this 
last spring, and the Trevors didn’t fancy any 
of their people countenancing the thing. In 
fact, they feel rather strongly about Salter’s, 
and so do most of the property owners. 
There’s no sense in attracting toughs from all 
over the State to turn Fortmounthouse into a 
second Coney Island. Besides, the police are 
likely to interfere.” 

Oh, they’ll be squared all right,” said 
Archie. 

‘‘ Possibly,” his guardian agreed. Per- 
sonally I should not care to make the experi- 
ment. Are you going to the Club to-night? ” 
“ I rather promised Miss Brent to take her 
out on the water,” said Archie with a conquer- 
ing air. How about you? ” 

If possible I shall find out what I want to 
do, and then do it,” said Percival, and strolled 
outside to join the ladies, of whom he found 
but one awaiting him on the piazza. 

Where is Miss Fenwick?” he asked. 

Walking up and down all by herself. The 
poor child is lonely. I must ask some other 
girls to stay here. I would invite Mary,” said 
126 


IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY 


Mrs. Percival, but Mrs. Van Rensselaer is 
always so alarmed about Jim, and really, that 
wretched boy would be a thorn in any mother’s 
side. I am always afraid of his taking one of 
his fancies to Effie.” 

Don’t suggest any more horrible compli- 
cations than we are already called upon to 
cope with!” her son entreated. 

But we all know that he makes love to 
every woman he sees,” Mrs. Percival per- 
sisted, and he certainly ‘ has a way with him.’ 
There goes the poor child now. If you are not 
going out, why don’t you join her for a little? 
She said she had never been to the Alley, so 
you might walk down to the summer-house 
and back. I don’t like to take her to the Club 
every evening.” 

Percival would have preferred to stroll 
through the shrubberies with Mrs. Townshend, 
who was amusing and civil, and had the faculty 
of talking well to half a dozen men at once. 
However, he relinquished his project, took the 
little wrap which his mother gave him, and 
invited his young guest to visit the summer- 
house in his society. Effie, who since her la- 
test rudeness stood in some fear of repeating 
the offense, accepted the offer with as little 
127 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


effusion as prompted it, and they set forth 
for the Alley, a gravel walk hedged in on both 
sides Tvith overarching elms. The original 
purport of this path was not quite clear, as the 
damp Chinese pagoda in which it terminated 
dated back no further than the most eccentric 
days of the late Mr. Percival, but the trees 
were fine, and the long secluded alley offered 
ample facilities for a flirtation. These golden 
opportunities were unfortunately quite wasted 
on Percival and his companion. Seldom had 
two young people issued forth more reluc- 
tantly to a tete-a-tete on a flne summer evening. 
The moon shone through a mist and cast bars 
of dim yellow light through the branches of 
the elms on to the level graveled floor. It fell 
upon Miss FenwiclPs becoming coiffure, and on 
a little patch of plump white throat encircled 
by a black velvet band, above her new gown of 
black net. She might have been old and ugly 
for all the effect her charms produced upon 
him, and she was resentfully conscious of the 
fact. 

How have you been amusing yourself 
since I saw you last?” he asked with a polite 
assumption of interest. 

I have done nothing but drive. Kate 
128 


IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY 


Porter came to see me yesterday. I don’t ex- 
pect to have a good time until Clip comes 
home,” she replied with far greater frankness. 

Why don’t you try that little bay mare of 
my mother’s? She is as gentle as a dove,” said 
Percival. Mrs. Townshend is riding every 
morning now. You might go with her.” 

I don’t know how to ride,” said Effie. 

You would soon learn. Rowson might 
teach you until you gain confidence to go out 
on the road,” he suggested. Since she was his 
guest it was plainly his duty to provide enter- 
tainment for her, and if it could be combined 
with much-needed instruction, so much the 
better. 

And have you laugh at my blunders? No, 
I thank you! ” said Effie with decision. 

I should probably find nothing to laugh 
at,” said Percival. Well, here is the summer- 
house. It isn’t much of a sight.” 

It’s the nicest thing I’ve seen since I came 
here,” said the contrary-minded young woman, 
and so cool! I’m going to sit down here and 
shake the gravel out of my shoes.” 

Percival concealed a smile as she proceeded 
to execute her threat. Perhaps she desired to 
display her slippers, which had very high heels 
129 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


and jetted rosettes. Perhaps she was merely 
uncomfortable. At all events, she removed 
them both, shook them, and replaced them. I 
am glad that you find something to your taste,” 
he observed, as she leaned back against a fan- 
tastic pillar, flushed with stooping. 

Well, you can^t pretend that you keep 
your place up the way the Trevors do,” she re- 
plied. 

No, it isn’t a show place.” 

It might be made one, though it is so 
much hotter,” said Effie, irrelevantly, “ but you 
don’t care.” 

No, you are quite right. I don’t,” said 
Percival. This roof I see has been leaking, 
but nobody comes here once a year, so why 
should I have it repaired?” 

I don’t think you have very good taste 
then,” she declared. “ It’s the dearest little 
house I ever saw, and if it were mine I should 
sit here every night.” 

You would get the rheumatism,” said 
Percival unromantically, and the chorus of 
frogs from the brook is enough to give one the 
horrors.” 

‘‘You must have a very bad conscience,” 
she said, severely. 


130 


IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY 


‘‘In order to appreciate rural delights, it 
isn^t enough to be good and happy, one should 
always have been so,” said Percival. “ Now, 
though I am at present the model that you see 
me, I confess I don^t like to be left alone with 
the frogs and crickets, and whippoorwills 
goad me to frenzy.” 

“ Well, if I were a man I should think my- 
self very cowardly if I were afraid to be alone,” 
she announced. 

“ So I do,” said Percival. 

“Now I suppose you are angry. I shall 
never learn not to say what I think,” said 
Effie. 

“ Angry? Not in the least,” he protested. 

“ Then it is because you don^t care what I 
say. If I were somebody else it might make a 
difference,” said Effie, hotly. “ It isn^t worth 
while losing your temper with a person of no 
consequence.” 

“ That you certainly are not,” he answered, 
blandly. “ You are in no danger of being over- 
looked, and you have the courage of your con- 
victions, Miss Fenwick.” 

“There it is again!” said Effie, accusingly. 
“ Pve heard you talk to Mrs. Townshend and 
Clip. You don’t sneer at 
131 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Percival seated himself on the bench oppo- 
site her with an air of reluctant determina- 
tion. ‘‘ Now suppose we have it out/’ he pro- 
posed. I am not without my own grievances. 
You will persist in misunderstanding me. I 
had not the remotest idea of sneering at you, 
but if I were to protest my innocence from 
now until doomsday I shouldn’t succeed in 
convincing you of it. You dislike me — that is 
patent to every observer — and much as I re- 
gret the fact, I can’t criticize your taste. 
What I do propose to request of you is that 
you give me a list of a few safe topics of con- 
versation, so that in future, when it is neces- 
sary for us to exchange ideas, I may be able to 
avoid offending you. If I am to confine my 
remarks to the weather, well and good. If you 
will give me a little more latitude, so much the 
better.” 

As if I could tell you! ” Efifie exclaimed, in- 
dignantly. 

Well, I can see no other course open to us. 
We are thrown continually together. For the 
sake of the conventionalities we must ex- 
change a few words when we meet, and really,” 
said Percival, “ I don’t know how it is with 
you, but I prefer hypocrisy to perpetual 
132 


IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY 


wrangling. So if you will give a sort of 
black-list of the subjects that are tabooed, 
we might manage to pull along without quite 
so much bloodshed, and save the appear- 
ances.” 

You are very unkind,” said Effie. You 
know that I’m awkward and stupid, and can’t 
do the things that you can do, and so you make 
fun of me. I thought it was going to be so 
nice, but now, oh dear! everybody is snippy, 
and nobody cares for me but Clip, and she’s 
gone.” 

Percival looked hopeless. Here was cer- 
tainly a most impossible young person. Why 
had he not pleaded a previous engagement 
when his mother had captured him on the 
piazza? And now, when he raised his eyes, he 
saw that the girl was glaring at him, and evi- 
dently expecting him to proceed. A poignant 
pity for Mrs. Trevor and his mother over- 
whelmed him, and he resolved if possible to 
lighten their educational burdens by an appeal 
to their charge’s better feelings. You are 
very fond of Mrs. Trevor, are you not?” he 
asked with unexceptionable gravity. 

I love her better than any one in the 
world. I’m afraid I love her more than I do 
133 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Archie/’ said Effie, fervently. Oh, you have 
no idea how perfectly angelic she has been to 
me! ” 

“ Then don’t you think that for her sake 
you might try to be a little more patient when 
people have the misfortune to displease you? ” 
he inquired. You can’t expect every one to 
know your inmost thoughts and fight shy of 
your particular foibles. We must all listen to 
unpleasant things and look as though we liked 
them. Just take them as they come, and 
don’t give the other person the satisfaction or 
the pain, as the case may be, of seeing you fly 
into a temper over them. You can always con- 
sole yourself with the reflection that probably 
what you have said hit just as hard.” 

“ My calling you a coward, for instance,” 
said Effie. 

“ I wasn’t referring especially to that,” said 
Percival. It is a term I so often apply to my- 
self that I take it quite easily.” 

Not really? ” she said in amazement. 

“ It surprises you, doesn’t it, to find that 
we are agreed on any subject? ” he asked. ^ 
Do you honestly think that Clip would be 
pleased if I told you what not to say? ” Effie 
inquired. I would be cut into little pieces for 
134 


IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY 


her, if it would do any good. And she wanfs 
me to tell her everything, just as if she were 
my own sister. Oh, it is so good to feel that 
there is one person in the world whom you can 
trust for everything!” 

Percival looked at her again. Her face was 
very earnest in the moonlight; her hands were 
clasped in her lap. She seemed appreciative 
in one direction. Perhaps there was a little 
hope for her after all. “ I am sure,” he said 
aloud, that you will never find a truer friend 
than Mrs. Trevor.” 

And until she comes back, I can’t help 
being lonely and unhappy,” said Effie with 
desolation in her voice. Kate may talk all 
she likes about its being so delightful to be 
here, but I’m sure I’d give it all for one sight 
of Clip’s face again.” 

“ Well, a month can be a long time, I ad- 
mit,” said Percival, absently. 

“ It’s all very well for you to say so,” Effie 
began, but if you missed her as I do — ” She 
broke off suddenly in some confusion, remem- 
bering her aunt’s plain statements, and rose 
hastily from her bench. I won’t stay here 
any longer, I think,” she said. Your mother 
will be dreadfully lonely. Archie was going 
135 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


to the Club, and I thought I heard Jim come 
up the drive.” 

Percival walked beside her as she hastened 
up the Alley. Jim and Archie were just leav- 
ing the house. The young man greeted Effie 
with effusion, and complimented her on her 
attire, while Percival, having done his duty, 
escaped to Mrs. Townshend’s. 

Miss Fenwick should not have been lonely 
at The Cedars, for the younger Trevor haunted 
the place at all hours. Percival, whose knowl- 
edge of the young man^s habits was full and of 
long standing, did not smile upon these 
matutinal visits, and was not over cordial 
when his handsome head emerged from the 
shadow of Effie’s white parasol or reclined 
against the cushions of the hammock. “ Run 
along. Child,” he said, inhospitably, as he came 
upon the pair under the shade of a clump of 
willows by the fountain. There are three 
well-seasoned veterans waiting for you on. 
the Club House steps, and each one says 
she has an appointment with you. I’m going 
to the station now. Can you give me a 
lift?” 

No, thanks. They will fall upon me and 
rend me. It’s safer here,” Jim replied with an 
136 


IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY 


engaging smile. Going up to town? They 
say iCs cooler there than here.” 

“ I want to see you, though, before I go,” 
said Percival. Miss Fenwick is quite tired 
of you. She has had you all the morning. 
Come, Child, see me off.” 

Only too delighted, I^m sure,” the young 
man muttered after his host^s retreating form. 

Sid’s a precious good fellow when he hasn’t 
some idea or other in his head, but just now 1 
wish he would go yachting. When is he com- 
ing back, do you know? ” 

His mother says not until Friday,” said 
Effie with an air of superb indifference. 

“ It’s just as well,” Jim observed. “ Are 
you going to let us in Tuesday night? Archie 
said you would.” 

I am certainly going to put up the chain 
after you go out. I couldn’t sleep if I knew 
the house was open with so many dreadful 
characters in the place,” Effie declared. 

“And how is Archie to get in again? Of 
course he can come back with me,” said Jim. 

“ Indeed he sha’n’t. Do you suppose I want 
to be left alone in this great house with nobody 
but Simmons? What if we were to be burgled? 
Then it w^ould be all Archie’s and my fault.” 

137 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


“ As to that, you may depend upon it that 
Simmons will be there himself/’ said Jim. 

No he won’t. Archie says the only way is 
for me to sit up and let him in,” Effie declared. 
“ I wish he wouldn’t go. It’s horrid, anyway.” 

On Tuesday evening Effie dined with the 
Porters, returning in time to witness the de- 
parture of her brother and his mentor. Mrs. 
Percival had retired early, and the solitary 
maid who had waited to see the young lady 
safely at home proceeded to bolt and bar the 
doors for the night. Effie watched her, feeling 
like a conspirator, declined her assistance in 
undressing, and stole down-stairs again after 
a misleading good night at her own door. In 
the dark hall she awaited the signal which Jim 
had invented, and when the strains of the 
Garden of Sleep were whistled at the gate 
she drew the bolts and stood on the steps while 
Archie, who had been asleep on the library 
sofa, crept about collecting materials for the 
cocktail with which he saw fit to inaugurate 
the clandestine expedition. Young Trevor, 
mistrusting his friend’s abilities in that line, 
came into the house to assist, and there was 
much giggling and stumbling over furniture, 
and rattling of shakers before the pair finally 
138 


IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY 


took their departure. Jim lingered to part im- 
pressively with Effie, who was flitting about 
with a candle in her hand, and his farewell rang 
out incautiously through the silent house. The 
door slammed, too, despite her precautions, 
and as she passed the first bend in the stair- 
case she heard footsteps descending to meet 
her. The next moment her light shone full 
into PercivaPs face. 

When a person is supposed to be at a dis- 
tance it is a trifle disconcerting to have him 
suddenly appear, even if he come opportunely, 
and in this instance what wonder that Miss 
Fenwick, who had pictured him safe in town 
for at least three days longer, was horribly 
abashed to be found by him thus? He was still 
in morning dress, and he held a paper in his 
hand. Effie fancied that his face was flushed. 
For a moment they stood glowering at each 
other. He was the first to break the silence. 
“ Was that Jim Trevor who just went out? I 
thought I recognized his voice.” 

Effie looked him straight in the face and set 
her lips. 

Might I remind you that it is a little un- 
usual for a young girl to receive visitors at this 
hour? ” he said, seeing that she made no re- 
10 139 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


sponse beyond the guilt and anger in her face. 
“ I’m sorry to appear officious, but I’m afraid I 
must.” 

“ You don’t mind interfering,” Effie broke 
in. 

I thought at first that he was here with 
Archie,” said Percival in the hopeless tone 
which it must be confessed he was apt sooner 
or later to employ in his conversations with his 
young charge. Of course, if I had known it 
was you, I should have come all the sooner. I 
wanted to see him in any case.” 

It seems you don’t like to have him come 
here,” she remarked, incautiously. “ Clip would 
be complimented, I’m sure.” 

“ He knows better than to call at this hour,” 
said Percival. Of course, if he only came to 
see Archie ” 

I sha’n’t tell you anything,” said Effie, an- 
grily. “ Think what you please.” 

I wish I could make you realize that I am 
not offending you for my own amusement,” said 
Percival. ‘‘ I believe if you will think it over 
quietly you will admit that you have been a 
little imprudent.” 

“ Yow sha’n’t tell me what is proper!” she 
cried. He had placed his hand on the balus- 
140 


IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY 


trade, and it seemed to her that he was pur- 
posely barring her passage. I hate you, any- 
way!’’ she exclaimed, and rushed past him so 
that her candle went out in a flare of smoke 
and left them in hostile darkness. 

Percival, thus flouted, lit the gas, picked up 
the latest number of the Gossip which his 
tempestuous charge had knocked out of his 
hand, and reread a paragraph marked with 
blue pencil in which his own name and Mrs. 
Trevor’s were linked with such an ingenuity 
of innocence that unless one were willing to 
admit the perfect flt of the cap, one could not 
openly resent the author’s posing it upon one’s 
reluctant head. He could only hope that no 
evil chance had sent a similar copy to the 
Trevors. As he turned to toss the torn frag- 
ments into the waste-paper basket his eye fell 
upon the empty cocktail glasses and the 
shaker, recklessly left on the hall table. Lit- 
tle fool! ” he growled. Why in Heaven’s name 
do I take any trouble about the girl? Why 
don’t I let her commit her b^tises as the spirit 
moves her? If she is in the habit of making 
these endearing little speeches to her acquaint- 
ance at large she will be on our hands with a 
vengeance.” He went to the window and 
141 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


opened the blinds. Far down the driveway a 
lantern was bobbing, and the sound of voices 
was borne faintly back to him on the night 
wind. Suddenly an explanation of Jim’s noc- 
turnal visit flashed through his mind, and 
snatching a hat and stick from the rack he 
started in hot pursuit. 

Although he was a rapid walker the pair 
with the lantern had an excellent start, and it 
was only at the door of their destination that 
he had the pleasure of seeing them slip inside 
and recognized them beyond a doubt, though 
they were blissfully unaware of his proximity. 
They, being armed with tickets, passed in un- 
challenged, whereas he was obliged to parley 
with the doorkeeper and Anally as a great 
favor was allowed to negotiate his own admis- 
sion at an exorbitant price. From the applause 
within he judged that the combatants had ap- 
peared in the ring, but the crowd of spectators 
so far exceeded the capacity of the hall that it 
was no longer possible to come near the ropes, 
and only PercivaPs height enabled him to dis- 
tinguish various familiar heads among the 
throng: the exclusive Mr. Floyd, cheek by jowl 
with local politicians, saloon-keepers, and men 
from the club stables; Barry Porter scraping 
142 


IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY 

an acquaintance with Melville, and, well to the 
front, a brown head and a red one close to- 
gether in excited colloquy. To reach them was 
impossible, and since they were there he was 
incapable of the cruelty of curtailing their en- 
joyment. They had been seen, just as he had 
been seen himself, countenancing a variety of 
exhibition which the better part of Fortmount- 
house was anxious to suppress, and in the 
estimation of their reluctant mentor they 
might as well be hung for an old sheep as a 
lamb. The atmosphere was stifling, and Perci- 
val, who was bored as well as irritated, and 
moreover could see little or nothing of the 
fight, waited as near the door as possible for 
the end. Fortunately for his patience the big 
Crowley soon showed himself to be the better 
man of the two, and the finish was not long de- 
layed. Then the crowd began to move toward 
the door, and those minor combats for which 
SalteFs enjoyed an unsavory reputation de- 
veloped with an alarming promptness. Argu- 
ments waxed fierce and blocked the passage- 
ways, and heated debaters were dragged apart 
by their friends or urged to unpolemic settle- 
ment of their differences of opinion. Foley of 
the training stables fell foul of Archie and bade 
143 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


fair to draw him into an altercation, as Mr. 
Fenwick was a youth who brooked no contra- 
diction. Mr. Floyd appeared to be having a 
finger in the pie, while Jim strove to pour oil 
upon the troubled waters and get away. It 
was at this juncture that Percival found it ad- 
visable to intervene and to despatch the bellig- 
erent Foley to a neighboring bar while he and 
Mr. Floyd each escorted a youth into the better 
air outside. Up to this point no words had 
been wasted between the four, but now Bobby, 
who had come with the Melville party, slipped 
away and left the culprits face to face with 
their Nemesis. 

Well, Sid, I see you couldn’t resist after 
all,” young Trevor observed, genially. 

Come along. Child,” said Percival. I see 
you walked.” 

Archie, unable to imitate his fellow sinner’s 
airy grace, was conscious that Percival’s ap- 
pearance was more in an official than a private 
capacity, and walked along sullenly. 

I’ve seen better fights than Moore put up,” 
Jim next observed. “ He had a chance to 
smash Crowley in the third round, and he let 
him have it with the left instead. Now if I had 
been in his place ” 


144 


IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY 


I tell you, he didn’t have the chance,” 
Archie broke in. ‘‘ Crowley never gave him a 
show from the first. Foley was undertaking to 
say that he was overtrained, but I tell you it 
was pure brains on Crowley’s part to force his 
left all the time.” 

He could have smashed him, couldn’t he, 
Sid? ” Jim demanded. 

The only part of the performance I wit- 
nessed was that in which Foley was very much 
disposed to smash you both,” said Percival, 
blandly, which would have been quite as en- 
tertaining to the community at large as the 
other fight.” 

That would have been nasty,” Jim ad- 
mitted. Eoy would have been fit to be tied. 
It’s lucky you thought better of it and came. 
At least I can say we were in good company.” 

I tell you. Child, you are corrupting me,” 
said Percival, pensively. I haven’t been inside 
that filthy hole since I was your age, and now, 
for the pleasure of your society, I have endured 
two hours of extreme discomfort, and posed as 
a supporter of the Fancy. You are leading me 
astray, you young villain, and I shall have to 
shun you in future.” 

Don’t ! I’m such a good excuse ! ” said Jim. 

145 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


I fear I no longer yearn for one,” said Per- 
cival. When you have been that kind of an 
idiot as many years as I have, you will know 
how it feels and wish you had left yourself a 
few illusions about one thing and another.” 

I love you when you preach,” said Jim, 
tenderly. 

That is another disadvantage. I have no 
right to preach to you,” Percival agreed. The 
et tu quoque style of argument would prove too 
convincing for me. So I wonT indulge in those 
moral reflections which rise to my lips.” 

“ You are more considerate than Roy will 
be, when you tell him,” Jim observed. He 
says I am bound for the devil whatever I do. 
It comes so well from him, you know.” 

a Trevor is a settled married man,” Archie 
now observed for the flrst time, and he has 
had his fling.” 

“ He is very lucky, then,” said Percival. 
“ There is everything in being able to pull up 
when you have had enough. Otherwise, think 
of the trouble of it! Sitting up when you would 
prefer to be in bed — drinking when you don’t 
want to— racking your brains to concoct some- 
thing devilish and sensational, all for the edi- 
fication of a pack of old tabbies whose imagina- 
146 


IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY 


tions will distance your wildest exertions. No, 
it doesn^t pay, and were it not for the idea that 
if you have the name you might as well have 
the game, it would be far simpler and more 
congenial to take to a milk diet, and have your 
sins committed for you by proxy.^^ 

“ Dear old boy,” said Jim, insinuatingly, 
“ you’ll make it all right with Roy, won’t you? ” 
“ Dear old Child,” Percival responded, ca- 
ressingly, “ if I ever catch you at The Cedars 
again out of respectable calling hours, I will 
make it particularly pleasant for you.” 

Well, you know why I went,” said Jim. 

“ I learn it with pleasure,” his friend af- 
firmed. By the way, Archie, why didn’t you 
say that you wanted a latch-key? It is better 
than making your sister sit up for you.” 

Mr. Fenwick was feeling very young and 
silly after his evening of independence, and en- 
vied Jim his ready tongue and his aptitude for 
blandishments, as well as the greater notice 
which Percival had accorded to his shortcom- 
ings. It seemed to him that his own defiance 
of authority was not receiving its meed of con- 
demnation, and he would have preferred a 
raking over the coals from his guardian, for 
whom he cherished a sneaking admiration, to 
147 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


the apparent indifference with which that gen- 
tleman regarded his lapse from grace. I sup- 
pose he was joking. I didn’t expect he would 
take it that way,” he confided to Jim the next 
day. 

Young Trevor was in a chastened mood. 

Joking or not,” he affirmed, ‘‘ if there is any- 
body on earth who can make me feel I wish I 
led a different life, it is Sidney. After that 
business last spring, when they were all going 
at me hammer and tongs, he talked to me like — 
well, I don’t know what it was like, but any- 
how, I felt then that I was going to turn over a 
new leaf, and I have, you know.” 

Archie regarded him with admiration. A 
youth of twenty who possessed the dare- 
devil bravery to announce his intention of re- 
forming challenged not only esteem but emula- 
tion. 

It was luncheon time when Percival again 
saw Miss Fenwick. She had returned from her 
drive, and now sat swaying in a hammock, 
awaiting the summons to the dining-room. 
Percival, who had heard the carriage wheels, 
went in search of her. She wore a white dress 
spotted with black, and appeared lost in con- 
templation of her high-heeled shoes. Notwith- 
148 


IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY 


standing the manner in which she ignored his 
approach, he rested his hand on the hammock 
ropes, and spoke to her directly. Miss Fen- 
wick, I fear I did you an injustice last night. I 
was in a bad humor, and no doubt I was rude. I 
hope you will pardon my incivility.” 

Effie looked at him and set her lips. She 
had been nursing her wrath against him all the 
morning, and he seemed to her by no means 
properly abject. 

Her defiant air diverted him. “ Well,” he 
said, with the suspicion of a smile, must I 
grovel yet more, or are you going to forgive 
me?” 

Then Miss Fenwick was guilty of an act so 
absolutely preposterous that a better-behaved 
young person will hardly credit it. She turned 
like a little fury, sprang from her hammock, 
and with her small right hand, which should 
have been extended in token of reconciliation, 
aimed a vindictive if somewhat ineffective 
blow at PercivaPs face. Then, in a tumult of 
fright and rage, she disappeared, leaving him 
rooted to the spot, lost in astonishment, ut- 
terly shocked and disgusted at this quite un- 
paralleled piece of ill-breeding. He was even 
a trifle pale around the lips. Never before in 
149 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


the course of his varied career had he been so 
treated. He took his hat and went across the 
fields to Mrs. Townshend^s. The same evening 
he departed for Bar Harbor. The atmosphere 
of Fortmounthouse was becoming intolerable 
to him. 


150 


CHAPTER XIII 


A CONFLAGRATION 

Does the woman live here?” Mr. Floyd 
demanded, gazing after the retreating forms of 
Mrs. Beverly and Trevor. She was here in 
May and in August, and now she^s back before 
the end of September.” 

“ I can’t see, though, that it’s any affair of 
yours whom Clip chooses to invite,” said Miss 
Fenwick, who stood in no awe of the oracle. 

“ It’s my impression that Roy does the in- 
viting,” he insinuated, darkly. They were sit- 
ting on the Club House piazza, with a little 
table between them, while a short distance 
away Percival sat reading such papers as Mr. 
Floyd had not placed in the seat of his own 
chair for safe-keeping. Effie, who had barely 
exchanged two words with her guardian since 
his return from Bar Harbor, now turned her 
shoulder to him, and sipped her lemonade 
through a straw, while Bobby, with a Tom 
Collins at his elbow, regaled her with items 
151 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


from the local paper. Ordinarily she would 
have paid small heed to him, but the piazzas 
were deserted, there was nothing to watch on 
the tennis-courts, and no sound save the rock- 
ing of her own chair, the droning of the seven- 
year locusts, and Mr. Floyd’s voice. Suddenly 
he banged his fist upon the table, and cried with 
righteous indignation, More incendiarism, 
by JoTe! Two more stables burned at Milford! 
What are we coming to?” 

^^Did they save the horses?” Percival in- 
quired, looking up from his Turf, Field, and 
Farm. 

Not one,” said Mr. Floyd, glancing down 
the page. There’s the result of your social- 
ism for you! Oh, you may laugh as much as 
you please, and go on meddling with the exist- 
ing state of affairs and putting ideas into those 
people’s heads, but you see what comes of it. 
It’s just what I’ve been telling Spriggy for 
years past. Put clothes on their backs and car- 
pets on their fioors, and they burn your stables 
for you. It will be your houses and your fami- 
lies next, and potting you by the light of the 
fiames.” 

It seems that this John Mclntire had one 
of their meetings broken up. He owns the hall 
152 


A CONFLAGRATION 


where it was being held,” said Percival. So 
they burned him out.” 

Well, I suppose you will maintain that he 
should have let them go on with it,” Mr. Floyd 
surmised. 

I suppose he might have taken the trouble 
to find out what they wanted the hall for,” 
said Percival. “ After they had commenced 
their exercises, it seems to me rather like wav- 
ing a red rag at a bull to attempt to stop 
them.” 

Well, now, see here,” said his cousin, com- 
batively. You own that block of buildings on 
High Street, don’t you? And you rent part of 
it to Lang, and he’s got a hall there. Now 
would you have a Socialist meeting held there 
without trying to put a stop to it? ” 

As long as Lang pays his rent and doesn’t 
start a brewery on the premises, I don’t know 
that I could stop him until his lease expired,” 
said Percival. 

Well, laugh, then! ” cried Mr. Floyd. I 
tell you, it’s serious. They’ll turn their atten- 
tion to Fortmounthouse next, and if they don’t 
burn the roofs over our heads I shall be much 
surprised. I’m going to write a letter to that 
paper.” 


153 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Do, and sign it ‘ Constant Reader,^ ” said 
Percival. 

Very well, you’ll see who’s right about it,” 
the indignant gentleman predicted. 

I wish you wouldn’t talk so,” Miss Fen- 
wick protested. “ You make me very uncom- 
fortable.” 

Meanwhile Trevor and Mrs. Beverly had 
paused midway on their homeward journey to 
rest on a seat nailed between two yellowing 
maple-trees. 

It seems as though we had never been 
away,” he said, lazily. “ The same old weather 
the same old trees, the same old river.” 

The same foolish woman who hadn’t the 
sense to stay away,” she added in a low voice. 

Why was it foolish? And, for that matter, 
why shouldn’t you be foolish if you choose? ” 

Only pretty women can afford that sort of 
folly. ” 

I wish you wouldn’t fish for compliments,” 
said Trevor. I never will pay them when they 
are expected, you know*. And I never make 
pretty speeches to you, nowadays. I say things 
because I can’t help myself.” 

“ To have people look at me once as they 
look at Clip! — even as they are going to look at 
154 


A CONFLAGRATION 


that little goose of an Effie — as you look at her 
now! ” sighed Mrs. Beverly. 

“ Yes, she is improving. But beauty isn’t 
the only thing,” he said, half to himself. There 
was a sort of regret in his tone which she felt, 
perhaps more than he intended. There is never 
a man so well contented with his lot that the 
past does not call to him out of some corner of 
his heart — the time of unrealized possibilities, 
the ghost of a lost future. When this siren 
voice lures, whatever is not, is the best, and 
realities in their most attractive guise pale be- 
fore the vision of what might have been. Then 
a wife means every-day life, conscience, duty, 
and the other woman, whoever she may be, 
stands transfigured in the sunset glow of senti- 
ment and illusion. The other woman now ex- 
perienced a moment of exultation, by no means 
the first she had owed to Trevor — a sense of 
triumph over fairer rivals, who could boast of 
more than fascinating voices, fine shoulders, 
and illuminating smiles — almost a scorn for 
the beauty she envied. 

Two days later an article actually did ap- 
pear in the Bugle denouncing labor-unions, 
socialism, and incendiarism in the most scath- 
ing terms, and ending with a threat that Lang’s 
11 155 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Hall would shortly be shorn of its privileges 
by the owner of the block, who, the author 
hinted, would stand no nonsense from un- 
scrupulous demagogues. Mr. Floyd, when 
taxed with indiscretion, denied all knowledge 
of the article, and wagged his head with re- 
newed misgivings over the dreadful state to 
which things had come. 

It happened that Efi&e was forced to spend 
that evening alone, and by the time the Trevors 
and Mrs. Beverly returned from their bridge 
party her nerves were in a fit state to be further 
set on edge by the details of the Milford fires 
which they brought home. The three ladies, in 
fact, unwisely sat until the small hours in their 
dressing-gowns, exchanging tales of horror, 
while Trevor slumbered peacefully. 

It seemed to Effie that she had hardly closed 
her eyes before she opened them again at the 
sound of voices in the hall. She crept to her 
door, and through a crack saw Trevor and Mr. 
Floyd in earnest conversation. Bobby was 
gesticulating. He wore no overcoat, and a hat 
obviously not his own still adorned his head.. 
Trevor was buttoning his collar. 

“ IFs perfectly awful!” Bobby was saying, 
“ and Sid is fit to be tied. They seem to think 
156 


A CONFLAGRATION 


iCs my fault, though I had no more to do with 
it than the baby has. Now why the devil do you 
stop for a tie? Hurry! Hurry! They have tele- 
phoned to the Club and to the village, and IVe 
got to get back there sometime to-night. If 
anything happens to the horses it will half kill 
him.” 

Don’t make such a row. I’ll go as soon as 
I’ve brushed my hair,” said Trevor. 

‘‘Don’t brush your hair!” fairly bellowed 
the exasperated Mr. Floyd. “ The stable will 
be burned to the ground before you get there. 
I believe I can see the glare of it this minute. 
For Heaven’s sake stop your prinking and get 
a move on you.” 

Mrs Trevor’s door opened and her head was 
thrust forth. “ I knew there was something 
wrong,” she announced with gloomy triumph. 
“ Now tell me what it is.” 

“ Those dirty beggars have set fire to Sid’s 
stables,” the bearer of ill tidings announced. 
“ I knew they would. I tell you, Roy, I wish you 
would lend me a pistol of some sort, and you’d 
better put one in your own pocket. You may 
need it before this night’s work is through.” 

“You sha’n’t go a step!” said Mrs. Trevor 
with decision. 


157 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Nonsense, dolly. Bobby is joking. There’s 
no danger to us,” said her , husband, “ and even 
if there were, think of poor Sidney. His horses 
are like children to him.” 

I’m awfully sorry, especially about Harle- 
quin,” said Mrs. Trevor, but you sha’n’t go 
near the fire. And if you try to rescue anybody 
I’ll never forgive Bobby for it, never!” She 
fied into her room once more. 

Now,” said Trevor, reproachfully, “ I told 
you how it would be if you made such an in- 
fernal row. You will have to wait a minute.” 
He sauntered in after her, and was gone for 
some time, while Bobby fussed and fumed out- 
side. Finally he emerged, and Effie heard them 
clatter down-stairs. No sooner had the door 
slammed than she sought Mrs. Trevor’s room, 
and found the beauty in bed, where nothing was 
visible of her save her eyes and a few stray 
curls. 

“Yes, they are gone,” said Mrs. Trevor, 
“ and I am only thankful that Jim and Archie 
are not here to go too. Did you ever have a 
presentiment? I have one now, that something 
terrible is going to happen to one of my family, 
and who can it be but Boy? Oh, you don’t know 
how reckless he is when there is any danger! ” 
158 


A CONFLAGRATION 


Effie had never seen her friend so unnerved, 
and her words conjured up a dreadful vision of 
Trevor borne home on a stretcher, with his 
handsome face disfigured. The thought smote 
her like a sword. 

“ Well, I suppose you had better go back to 
bed, and try to sleep,” said the beauty, with a 
return to her usual practicality. “ Good night, 
dear, and don’t worry. How fortunate that 
Spriggy took the boys to Lenox! ” 

Effie obeyed reluctantly. From her own 
windows she could see the distant glare against 
the starlit sky. In the night it seemed very far 
away. She was trembling violently, and her 
heart was filled with a sickening apprehension 
that was not wholly sympathy for Clip. With 
unsteady fingers she dressed herself, going 
often to the window to look out toward The 
Cedars. If she could only see or hear! It was 
horrible to think of him there, among falling 
timbers and trampling horses, with possible 
miscreants lurking around corners to shoot him 
in the glare of the confiagration. If he would 
only come home! She could not endure much 
more of this awful suspense, and the tightening 
of something around her heart which she did 
not understand. As she watched there was a 
159 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


sharp report in the distance, like a pistol-shot, 
and with the sound her few remnants of sense 
deserted her. She had but one impulse. He was 
in danger, and she must go to him. He must 
listen to me,’’ she repeated to herself. He 
must come home.” She snatched up an old 
gray shawl and wrapped it about her shoulders, 
then fled fearfully down the stairs, out of the 
front door, and under the starlight down the 
road to The Cedars. 

She could not have explained what benefit 
her presence could be to him. She had not 
paused to reason: indeed she was in her nor- 
mal nervous condition — more given to emotions 
than logic. She was conscious only of an over- 
mastering desire to behold him with her own 
eyes, to be assured of his safety in her own per- 
son, and to induce him to return with her. The 
loneliness of the road filled her with terror, yet 
she hastened on until she arrived, panting and 
breathless, at Percival’s gate, and saw the 
long low house standing forth silhouette-like 
against the glow of the conflagration. She ran 
on toward the stables. No fire-engines had 
yet arrived, but the neighbors had turned out 
in full force, although there seemed little for 
any one to do save to watch the doomed build- 
160 


A CONFLAGRATION 


ing. Here were men with whom she had talked 
and danced under proper chaperonage and at 
seasonable hours. They could hardly be ex- 
pected to recognize her as she stood shivering 
in the shadow of the house at midnight, wrap- 
ped in her gray shawl. For the first time she 
wondered that she had dared to come. She 
heard Bobby’s loud voice rising among shouts 
and chaotic directions. Farther away others 
were trying to save the carriage house. Trevor 
was nowhere visible, unless he might be among 
those black figures by the stable door, trying 
to lead away the frightened horses, that reared 
and sank back on their haunches in terror of 
the flames. Then suddenly Bobby sprang for- 
ward crying, ^^You fool, don’t go in there! 
Damn it, what are you doing? ” 

It’s the other horse!” said some one. 

“Stop him, why don’t you? Don’t let him 
go!” cried Bobby, fiercely. 

Effie’s heart stopped beating. There was a 
short silence, broken by the crashing of a beam. 
She caught at the vines to steady herself. Why 
had she not seen him sooner? If she could only 
have spoken to him! — and now perhaps it was 
too late. An awful light was breaking upon 
her poor little mind. This stifiing agony was 
161 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


not simply for her friend’s husband. It was for 
the man whom she was foolish and wicked 
enough to love. 

The moments seemed to lengthen into 
hours. All the movement around her im- 
pressed her only as a horrible panorama in a 
dream. Finally she discerned through the 
smoke the figures of a man and a horse making 
their way out of the fierce heat on to the 
charred grass. At once they were surrounded 
by other figures, and the horse was led away. 
Now he was coming toward her, the others fol- 
lowing, and she stepped out into the bright 
light, her shawl slipping away from her head 
and shoulders, and stood in the path awaiting 
him. She had forgotten everything else. He 
passed quickly from the glare into the shadow, 
and out again into the starlight, and she fiung 
her arms about his neck with a convulsive sob, 
crying, Oh, you’re not killed? ” The absurdity 
of the question, the impetuosity of the act mat- 
tered nothing to her, nor did she hear the ex- 
clamation of one of the men as the light fell on 
her face: “ By Jove, it’s little Miss Fenwick! ” 
But in a moment she realized her mistake. It 
was not Trevor, but Percival. 

He drew her quickly back into the shadow. 

162 


A CONFLAGRATION 


It would have been difficult to say which was 
the more horrified, but his horror was mingled 
with indignation, and hers with the shame of a 
sudden awakening. “Where is Roy?” she 
asked with the sharpness of distress. “ I didn’t 
know it was yow.” 

“What are you doing here?” Percival in- 
quired. 

“ Oh, never mind that. Is he hurt? ” she en- 
treated. 

“ Of course not. How did you come? ” 

“I couldn’t stay in the house when I knew he 
was in danger. How could I know that it was 
you? ” she demanded again, fiercely. It seemed 
to her that all her trouble arose from some 
fault of his. 

“ Mrs. Trevor didn’t come? ” 

“ I tell you, I came alone.” 

“ And even my mother has gone to the Club. 
Still, you can’t go back now.” He was opening 
the side door as he spoke, and stood aside for 
her to pass through. 

“ No, I won’t go in,” she protested. 

“ It is perfectly safe. The engines ought to 
be here now, and as soon as I can leave I will 
take you home.” 

“ No, I won’t. I’ll go with Mr. Trevor.” 

163 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Don’t you see yourself that this is no place 
for you? ” 

She did not stir. Percival on this occasion 
wasted no further time on his usual trick of 
looking hopeless, but without more ado lifted 
his young charge over the threshold, and closed 
the door after him. “ I hope you can make 
yourself comfortable,” he observed, dryly. I 
am going to telephone to the Club, and after 
that I must leave you again, but I must beg you 
to stay here until I am at liberty to take you 
back.” 

Miss Fenwick, realizing the futility of argu- 
ment, seated herself in a revolving chair at 
PercivaPs desk while he talked over the wire 
to his mother, who had departed under charge 
of the butler, fully an hour ago, with her dia- 
monds in a bag. Some of the servants were on 
the roof keeping the walls wet, while the maids 
hung out of the windows with their aprons over 
their heads and watched the struggles of the 
amateur firemen. One of them finally appeared 
in answer to PercivaPs summons, and brought 
him a decanter of whisky, and while he poured 
out a glass and drank it she exclaimed over his 
burnt hands and the condition of his clothes. 

I hav’n’t time to bother about it now,” he said. 

164 


A CONFLAGRATION 

Just take this out to Mr. Floyd and send one 
of the men out with some soda and ice or what- 
ever they want.’’ Effie thought him decidedly 
cross and unpleasant, but his voice was mild 
enough when he assured his mother that every- 
thing was going on nicely, and that all the 
horses were safe. As he was leaving the room 
he recommended his young charge to remain 
on the ground floor, and to go to sleep if pos- 
sible. She did not respond, but sat with her 
face buried in her hands, humiliated and fright- 
ened. Every noise that sounded without, every 
falling timber and cracking post, added to her 
alarm, and streaks of red flame shot up from 
the windows, so near that the house itself 
seemed in danger. Then came the flre-engine, 
its bells clanging harshly, and the hissing of 
water was presently added to the din. From 
the window she could see Trevor, calmly sur- 
veying the scene with his hands in his pockets. 
Now that the engines had arrived there seemed 
little for him to do, and he was meditating a 
speedy trip homeward. A groom came by, lead- 
ing one of the horses. Trevor stopped him to 
examine it, and Effie, listening, heard him say, 
“ Tell Mr. Percival that I have gone home. I 
fancy everything is safe now, but if he needs 
165 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


me, let him call me up again.” As he made his 
leisurely preparations for departure her bril< 
liant idea recurred to Effie. Why not follow 
and overtake him, thus dispensing with the un- 
welcome escort which had seemed inevitable? 
She would beg him to say nothing of her in- 
cautious escapade, and he, being cursed with 
no such absurd ideas as all the others appeared 
to harbor, would ask no embarrassing ques- 
tions and make no comments. He understood 
her. She cautiously opened the door, and 
waited until the coast was clear, then ran in 
the direction which he had taken. 


166 


CHAPTER XIV 


THE TRIALS OF A GUARDIAN 

At an hour by far too early for callers a 
Club jigger drew up at the door of Fortmount- 
house on the following morning, and Percival 
alighted, looking rather the worse for wear. 
At the sound of wheels Mrs Trevor left the 
breakfast table to meet him, and carried him 
off to a secluded corner of the piazza. “ I have 
just received your note,” she said. Thank you 
for sending me word. I had not missed her, but 
of course I should have heard of it in any case. 
I don’t understand it in the least. What does 
it all mean? ” 

Ask Miss Fenwick,” said Percival. I 
can’t tell you. I did not telephone, for I thought 
since she had come back there was no necessity 
of informing the neighborhood that you had 
not known of her going.” 

Mrs. Trevor looked at him in consternation. 

But she hasn’t come back,” she said. 

167 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Are you sure? Why, she must have come 
with Roy. Isn’t she in her room, or somewhere 
about the house? ” 

Mrs. Trevor shook her head. Wait a mo- 
ment. I will see for myself,” she said, and ran 
up-stairs. Presently she returned, with a sober 
face. I have looked everywhere. She cer- 
tainly is not here. She must be with your 
mother.” 

Mother is at the Club, and has not seen her 
at all,” said Percival. 

Sidney, you can’t mean that you don’t 
know where she is? ” The color had died out of 
Mrs. Trevor’s face, and she spoke with the 
sharpness of anxiety. 

Don’t worry. Clip. She is bound to turn 
up,” he said, consolingly. “ Perhaps she is with 
those friends of hers at Graystone.” 

Possibly. I hate to inquire, though,” said 
Mrs. Trevor. I am so sorry about your 
stables. Do you suppose that silly article in 
the paper had anything to do with it? Roy 
seems to think so.” Her tone was a little per- 
functory, her thoughts being plainly with her 
errant charge. 

Fortunately nobody was hurt, and no 
great harm done. It’s a beastly nuisance, 
168 


THE TRIALS OF A GUARDIAN 


though. I shall have to stable at the Club for 
the rest of the summer,” said Percival. 

“ I’m so glad that you saved the horses,” 
she said: You must tell me all about it.” 

When I have found Miss Fenwick,” said 
Percival, and ran down the steps. Mrs. Trevor, 
outwardly serene, resumed her seat at the 
breakfast table. 

After fruitlessly visiting the Porters’, the 
Club, and The Cedars, where he found his 
mother unloading various little chamois bags 
which she had secreted in divers portions of her 
attire, Percival set forth on foot for Mr. Fen- 
wick’s house, which he had placed in charge of 
a caretaker. No sooner had he started across 
the fields, however, than he met Mr. Floyd, 
coming in haste from Mrs. Townshend’s, where 
he was staying to console the deserted Percy. 

Well, upon my word,” cried the lively gentle- 
man, I knew you were a gay deceiver, but I 
had no idea you had brought your charms to 
bear on that quarter.” 

“ I don’t know what you mean,” Percival un- 
truthfully replied. 

“ Come, now, Walter Smith saw you, and 
Morgan, and one or two other fellows. I had 
no idea you were making any running there.” 

169 


FOUR-IN-HAISTD 


The luckless Percival experienced a thrill of 
horror. Deplorable as Effie’s escapade had 
seemed to him on the previous night, this as- 
pect of it was far more appalling. He knew 
that she had been recognized in the act of 
greeting him with a degree of feeling which the 
circumstances hardly warranted, but other 
matters of more present import had relegated 
this consciousness to a secondary place. The 
fact that these demonstrations had not been 
intended for him was hardly one to be made 
public, even if publicity would have mitigated 
the indiscretion of her conduct. Certainly the 
girl, for some mysterious reason, had openly 
compromised herself, and no explanation could 
satisfactorily clear her save one. He did his 
best to silence Mr. Floyd, whom he presently 
managed to shake off. There was no telling 
how soon this marplot would ferret out the fact 
of Effie’s disappearance, and add it to his tale 
of wonder. So he came to the house, standing 
with closed doors and drawn blinds in the gray 
fog of the morning, and rang the bell, wishing 
devoutly that it and all its inmates had van- 
ished from the face of the earth before ever he 
had been burdened with them. He thought he 
knew what he ought to do, and he proposed to 
170 


THE TRIALS OF A GUARDIAN 


do it, but the pill was a bitter one, and he sur- 
veyed it, not with hesitation, indeed, but with a 
wry face. The door was opened by the care- 
taker. “ Is Miss Fenwick here? ” he asked, 
abruptly. 

Yes, sir. She is in the parlor,” said the 
woman. 

Effie’s voice responded to his rap. She was 
lying on the sofa, covered with her shawl, but 
she sat up when she saw him, and surveyed him 
defiantly. Then, I thought it might be Clip,” 
she said in tones replete with disappointment. 

Percival stood looking down at her. Her 
hair was disordered and there were blue circles 
around her eyes. Her pretty dress was drag- 
gled and muddy, and she showed unmistakable 
traces of her recent fright and exposure, but 
the color fiamed into her cheeks beneath his 
steady gaze. Mrs. Trevor does not know 
where you are,” he said finally. 

“ I suppose of course you will scold,” said 
Effie. I saw Roy start for home, and I thought 
I would go back with him, but before I could 
catch up with him he turned into a road I didn’t 
know, and I lost him. And I went everywhere, 
but I couldn’t find my way home. And it was 
so cold and dreadful, my teeth were just chat- 
13 171 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


tering. Finally I struck a path I knew, so I 
came here. And I know I’ve taken pneumonia 
or something, I feel so queer. So you needn’t 
be hateful to me. Grandpa never was.” 

He drew a chair up to the sofa on which 
she still reclined, and seated himself opposite 
her with an air of determination. The memory 
of their last meeting made her flush again, but 
she regarded him aggressively. “ Do you real- 
ize what an imprudent thing you have done? ” 
he asked, gravely. 

Well, if you ached all over the way I do, 
you wouldn’t ask me such a silly question,” said 
Effie with a note of self-pity in her indignation. 

No doubt you have taken cold, but that is 
not the worst result of this business, I am 
afraid,” said Percival. I left Mrs. Trevor in 
the greatest anxiety over you, and my mother 
as well. Why couldn’t you have remained 
where you belonged in the flrst place? And 
since you didn’t, why wouldn’t you stay where 
I left you, instead of taking this wild-goose 
chase over the country? ” 

I didn’t want to stay. I told you I was 
going back with Roy,” said Effie. Did he get 
home safely? ” 

Of course,” said Percival, impatiently. 

172 


THE TRIALS OF A GUARDIAN 


Does he know about it? ” 

“ I think not. I am sure I hope not.” 

Effie began to cry. I suppose everybody 
is angry with me,” she wailed. I suppose they 
don’t want me to come back. Oh, what shall I 
do?” 

Don’t be so foolish. Of course you are go- 
ing back. Mrs. Trevor will come for you as 
soon as she knows where you are,” said Per- 
cival. 

Then go right away and tell her,” Effie 
commanded. 

“ Before I go I must ask you to give me your 
undivided attention for a few moments,” said 
Percival, seeing that she was beginning to ar- 
range her hair. “ Mrs. Trevor doesn’t under- 
stand why you went to The Cedars last night. 
What explanation do you propose to give her 
of what happened then? ” 

She stopped short in her repairing of dam- 
ages, and looked at him appealingly. I had 
promised always to tell her everything!” she 
said in a voice of increasing distress. 

Of course she will hear, even if you don’t 
tell her,” her guardian assured her. 

But, oh, what can I say? ” 

There is only one thing that I can sug- 
173 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


gest/’ said Percival. You won’t like it, but it 
will be better that the alternative.” 

You needn’t fuss about it. I’m sure, it 
comes hardest on me,” she asserted. 

It is hard on every one who has the slight- 
est responsibility where you are concerned. I 
suppose it will be said that Mrs. Trevor has not 
taken proper care of you.” 

“ They have no right to say so. She told me 
to stay in my room, and so I shall say to every- 
body. Oh, I have behaved badly to her when I 
only meant to bring him back before anything 
happened to him. She was so worried about 
him, and I didn’t think then that — ” She 
broke off in confusion. Evidently she was be- 
ginning to realize her folly. All the same,” 
she flashed at him the next moment, I can’t 
see how it concerns you^ 

Of course, if nobody had seen you, we 
could assume that it didn’t concern me,” said 
Percival. But unfortunately it isn’t merely 
a question of my holding my tongue. You see, 
the people here are more or less conventional, 
and expect certain things, especially in young 
girls, and I’m afraid they would draw the line 
on the wrong side of your little mistake last 
night.” 


174 


THE TRIALS OF A GUARDIAN 


They might think I took you for Archie,” 
Effie suggested. 

“ They won^t trouble themselves to find ex- 
cuses. We must furnish those ourselves,” said 
Percival. They take things as they find them 
and draw their own conclusions. It may be un- 
charitable, but iPs customary. And in any case 
I fear you will find yourself an object of curi- 
osity.” 

Will they think that I would have taken 
that dreadful walk for you? ” 

“ If you and I know better, I trust we shall 
have the sense to keep it to ourselves. For- 
tunately we can give an excuse that will pass. 
It will be hard on you, of course, but still, it 
might be more hopeless.” 

I don’t see how,” Effie persisted. 

“ You might have found the person you were 
looking for,” said Percival, feeling like a 
butcher, but not much regretting his brutality. 
Effie looked straight before her and said noth- 
ing. He nerved himself to the effort and con- 
tinued, “ Of course, if our engagement were an- 
nounced, that would account for everything.” 

She looked at him blankly. Be engaged to 
youf^^ she echoed in tones the reverse of fiat- 
tering. 


175 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


It really seems the only thing to do,” he 
said. “ I know the idea isn’t agreeable to you, 
and I can’t pretend that you have ever given 
me any cause to think that it would be. You 
need not even regard the arrangement as per- 
manent, but you must see that it is practical.” 

“ I see that it would be ridiculous,” Effie de- 
clared. You don’t care anything about me.” 

“ I ask nothing that I can’t reciprocate,” he 
answered. “ I am perfectly aware that you are 
not fond of me. All the same, I have under- 
taken to look after you, and I propose to do it.” 

Not in that way. People have no business 
to pretend when they don’t love each other,” 
she said with conviction. 

“ Komance is all very well. Miss Fenwick,” 
said Percival, but it won’t save you from be- 
ing talked about. And it won’t explain matters 
to Mrs. Trevor.” 

“ It’s for her you care,” cried Effie, suddenly, 
flinging all reserve to the winds, and not for 
me. Why should I be talked about any more 
than you? Is it any better to care for a mar- 
ried woman that for a married man? ” 

Percival turned white. If he had previously 
regarded the girl with scant favor, that mod- 
erate amount was dispelled by her unparal- 
176 


THE TRIALS OF A GUARDIAN 


leled temerity. Such an implication was not 
for a moment to be admitted, however much in 
his soul he might realize its truth, nor would he 
in any way reply to the charge, but he fixed 
upon the rash and presumptuous young person 
a gaze which forced her to drop her own eyes, 
little as she apparently realized the enormity 
of her directness. Far from seeing how her 
thrust had struck home, she felt herself sud- 
denly guilty and ashamed. As for him, having 
with success refuted an accusation which no 
one had been bold enough to make in his pres- 
ence before, however much it might be circu- 
lated out of his hearing, he reverted to his 
original theme, and said, Well, I have pre- 
sented the case quite frankly to you. I can’t 
say any more. Take me or leave me, as you see 
fit.” 

I wouldn’t take you,” said Effie, obstinate- 
ly, if you were the last man on earth.” 

Percival rose to go. I suppose you have 
some other explanation, then, to give to every- 
body who is interested in you? ” he suggested. 

I am going to Mrs. Trevor now, but I shall tell 
her as little as possible, and if you decide after 
all to take my suggestion, I shall be very much 
relieved.” She would not turn her head, but 
177 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


beat with her foot on the carpet. She had not 
yielded an inch, but she was beginning to re- 
gard him with a very wholesome fear. At the 
door he paused, with an impulse he was at a 
loss to account for. I’m very sorry for you,” 
he said, and left the room. 


178 


CHAPTER XV 


WE PREPARE FOR A CAMPAIGN 

The dreaded explanation with Mrs. Trevor, 
which Effie felt positive she could never sur- 
vive, was destined to be so long averted that 
subsequent events obviated its necessity. The 
girl was so unmistakably ill by the time the 
carriage arrived from Fortmounthouse that no 
one had the heart to do more than commiserate 
her, and it was Percival who after all was 
obliged to bear the brunt of the cross-question- 
ing. Mr. Floyd^s news had preceded him, and 
he was called upon for an account of the nighPs 
doings by the person from whom he had been 
most anxious to conceal them. However val- 
iantly he might beat about the bush, one fact 
was obvious to him: Mrs. Trevor had hit with 
unerring instinct upon the truth. Indeed, from 
the swiftness with which she waived the sub- 
ject, it was tolerably plain that the situation 
was no novelty to her. He could almost fancy 
her saying to herself, What, again? ” Her 
179 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


manner was a disappointment to him, for he 
had chosen to imagine her a supremely happy 
woman. 

Trevor, in blissful unconsciousness of the 
havoc which his charms had wrought, was as 
usual not to be bothered with consequences, 
nor did he evince much curiosity regarding Miss 
Fenwick’s illness. She had taken a heavy cold, 
to which the shame and horror of her awaken- 
ing gave added violence. She had drifted in- 
sensibly into her fancy for her friend’s husband, 
and it seemed as if her first glimpse of the un- 
varnished reality had dispelled the illusion, and 
revealed to her the dangerous nature of the 
ground on which she stood. She felt herself 
the most wicked, ungrateful, and treacherous 
of created beings, whose black heart those 
about her must be able to read and abhor, and 
she shrank from every one, most of all from the 
beauty. Her sentiments toward Percival had 
undergone a modification, and she was con- 
scious of a sneaking admiration for him, 
against which she rebelled. He had shown 
himself most attentive during her illness, send- 
ing her flowers and seeming disposed to over- 
look her prompt refusal of his hand, but she 
felt that the end of the matter was not yet in 
180 


WE PREPARE FOR A CAMPAIGN 


sight. Was she indeed to be considered a social 
outcast at the inception of her career, and had 
she thrown away her unrivaled opportunities 
by her own folly? I wouldn’t care about 
that,” she assured herself, passionately. I 
would be willing to crawl into a hole and stay 
there forever if I could only prove to Clip that 
I’m not ungrateful and a snake in the grass.” 
Meanwhile the date of the annual autumn ball 
at the Club was rapidly approaching, her dress 
was ordered, and she lay among her pillows 
miserably convinced that she ought not to go, 
since she had been guilty of so grave a breach 
of propriety. 

Despite her sad state of mind she was con- 
valescing rapidly, and when Mrs. Trevor en- 
tered her room bearing a pair of white satin 
slippers with huge rosettes, her heart sank at 
the thought of all that she ought to relinquish. 
“They came this morning,” said the beauty. 
“ When you sit up for your luncheon you had 
better let Harriet try them on, for if they don’t 
fit there is still time to send for others.” 

Miss Fenwick for reply burst into a storm 
of tears. “ I shall never wear them,” she 
sobbed. “Send them away! Send me away! 
I’m not fit to stay with you.” 

181 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Mrs. Trevor dropped the slippers and put 
her arms around the penitent young person. 
“ After all/’ she said, soothingly, in the inter- 
vals of the floods which ensued, what have you 
done? You think you are wicked, and you have 
been only silly.” 

“ And everybody knows how I have acted! ” 
the culprit remonstrated, reveling miserably in 
her own turpitude. 

“ We are going to arrange it all somehow,” 
her friend assured her. Just devote yourself 
to getting well, and leave the rest to me. Not 
go? But of course you will go. If you really 
love me and want to please me, you will stop 
being unhappy at once, and make up your mind 
to come down to luncheon to-morrow. Yes, I 
do love you just the same as ever, and you 
need only act as though nothing had hap- 
pened. Trust me and let me manage every- 
thing.” 

From the hour of this reconciliation Miss 
Fenwick’s peace of mind was restored — too 
thoroughly restored, perhaps, for her own good. 
She had the utmost confidence in Clip, and 
indeed the beauty’s efforts in her behalf had 
been unceasing. Curiosity was aroused con- 
cerning the coming debutante, whose reported 
182 


WE PREPARE FOR A CAMPAIGN 


engagement to Percival was not too strenuous- 
ly denied. She certainly had powerful backers, 
and there were rumors of elaborate entertain- 
ments to be given in her honor. In fact, as Mr. 
Floyd had observed, after various indiscretions 
of his own which made the case more difficult 
to handle, “ If anyone can weather the storm, 
we can do it.” So these people to whom the 
opinion of Mrs. Grundy was important were 
prepared to defy her if need be, and Miss Fen- 
wick^s friends awaited her first appearance in 
public with anxiety and suspense. 

The advisability of conciliating Percival 
had been so impressed upon Effie that she 
promised to be civil to him until after the ball, 
and for his reception of these overtures Mrs. 
Trevor kindly paved the way. They were rest- 
ing on a bunker while their caddie searched for 
a missing ball, and Mr. Floyd, passing within 
hailing distance, waved his lofter and yelled, 
“ Don’t forget that you’re keeping the cotillion 
for me! ” 

I suppose that means that I am to ask 
Miss Fenwick,” said Percival. 

“ How nice and clever of you to guess it! ” 
she beamed upon him. 

I feared you would think of that. Well, I 
183 


FOUR-IN-HAND 

suppose I ought to be thankful that it’s no 
worse.” 

Now don’t be cross, please, Sidney. Re- 
member it is the poor child’s first ball, and do 
your best to make it everything that it should 
be. You can be so charming when you don’t 
make up your mind to be disagreeable.” 

“ A little judicious fiattery goes a long 
way,” said Percival, “ but I haven’t yet ascer- 
tained just how far.” 

As far as I want it to go,” she answered. 

So you are going to make yourself irresistible 
for at least one evening.” 

You don’t expect me to make love to her, I 
hope? ” he protested in horror. I can’t do it. 
She would spoil your best laid plans by black- 
ing my eye in the ballroom.” 

‘‘ No she won’t. She has promised to be nice 
to you.” 

She couldn’t if she tried.” 

“ But you know how necessary ” 

Oh, yes, of course there is only one thing 
for me to do, but why harp on it? If everybody 
believes it, as Bobby says. I’ll do my part if you 
can induce her to do hers.” He strode along 
with a face of great gloom, most inappropriate 
to an accepted suitor. 

184 


WE PREPARE FOR A CAMPAIGN 


On the piazza of the little golf house Trevor 
sat smoking. He had just returned from town, 
and had some gossip to impart, for which pur- 
pose he drew his friend aside. “ Who do you 
suppose is back in town again? ” he demanded. 

Mrs. Belden, if you’ll believe me.” 

“ That woman is as much a landmark as St. 
Paul’s churchyard,” said Percival. I thought 
she had a new husband. What has she done 
with him? ” 

“ I didn’t stop to inquire. I saw her first,” 
said Trevor. She has a perfect passion for 
marrying people, and I always have a haunting 
fear that sooner or later she’ll get me.” 

“Who’s that?” Mr. Floyd demanded, com- 
ing up behind them. “ Were you talking about 
Gloriana the Child-Stealer? We are hardly 
young and tender enough for her, but as I was 
telling Jim, she’d marry him with pleasure.” 

“ See here, Bobby, you needn’t introduce him 
to her, you know,” said Trevor. 

“ No, I wouldn’t do such a thing,” said Mr. 
Floyd, virtuously. “ She used to play on my 
sympathies, and I considered her awfully 
abused, but she’s no friend of mine nowa- 
days. In fact, she’s an out and out bad lot, and 
I shall have nothing further to do with her. 
185 


FOUR-IN-HAND 

But as for the Child, I believe he knows her 
already.^’ 

Trevor groaned. I might have known it. 
She’s a devil, that woman, and he is another.” 

I thought I’d tell him,” said Mr. Floyd, as 
Trevor departed, no longer diverted by his own 
news. He always thinks those things are 
funny until they concern him, and then he can’t 
see the joke. He won’t put a stop to it, though. 
You’ll see. If anything is to be done about it 
somebody ought to tell Clip. Of course. I’ll 
keep an eye on him myself.” 

“ Come in and have a drink,” said Percival, 
abruptly. 


186 


CHAPTER XVI 


WE REFUSE AN EXCELLENT PARTI, AND EAT 
TRUFFLES AT ST. VINCENTES 

Miss Fenwick stood before the chevel-glass 
in Mrs. TrevoFs dressing-room, surveying her 
own image with pardonable satisfaction. The 
fit of her bodice, the fieecy expansion of her 
skirts, the altitude of her white satin heels, all 
filled her soul with delight. She pulled up her 
long gloves, spread her fan, turned and twirled 
before the mirror, and touched up the little 
red-gold curls on her forehead. Over the back 
of a chair was spread her new white opera- 
cloak. Her heart was beating high and anx- 
iously, nevertheless she glanced with a smiling 
face over her plump shoulder at the trim little 
figure reflected in the glass, and was, to tell 
the truth, mightily well pleased with Miss Fen- 
wick. 

“ Now if you’ll only behave as well as you 
look, I shall be satisfied,” said Trevor, strolling 
13 187 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


in and planting himself in front of her with 
perfect unconsciousness of the hideous ap- 
positeness of his remark. 

As they finally climbed into the omnibus, 
Effie’s face broke forth into an involuntary 
smile of happiness. They were very late, and 
Mrs. Townshend was awaiting them in the ball- 
room with a small battalion of men to present 
to the debutante. In a moment the group was 
the center of attraction. Effie felt that every 
eye was fixed upon her, but for some inexpli- 
cable reason all awkwardness and self-con- 
sciousness forsook her, and she rose to the oc- 
casion, sustained by the fact that Miss Brent, 
an acknowledged belle, had not half so large a 
circle around her. At all events, the young 
person’s blood was fired with a determination 
to cover herself with glory or perish in the at- 
tempt, and she accepted the ovation prepared 
for her in a manner which prepossessed every 
one in her favor. She was enjoying herself 
hugely, as her radiant face attested, and chat- 
tered away volubly to her partners; and as it 
became evident that, thanks either to her own 
charms or to the excellent management of her 
friends, she had more than her share of atten- 
tion, Mrs. Trevor breathed a sigh of relief, and 
188 


WE EAT AT ST. VINCENT’S 


Mr. Floyd was loud in his self-gratulatory re- 
marks. 

Percival found her on the stairs, with three 
youths from Mrs. Townshend’s train, conduct- 
ing herself for all the world like any other 
popular girl of his acquaintance. As she was 
not averse to publicly receiving a share of his 
attentions which she certainly did not covet 
in private, she made room for him beside her on 
the steps, and included him in her little con- 
fidences about nothing in particular until 
Wingfield returned with a missing fan, when 
her guardian departed. 

IPs all management! ” Mr. Floyd declared 
later to his aunt, watching Miss Fenwick’s evi- 
dent success. We’ve done it well. Now she’s 
the fashion. Otherwise she couldn’t have 
weathered it at all. Clip will find that it’s as 
well sometimes to take my advice.” 

Two popular people who dance the cotil- 
lion together naturally see little of each other, 
but during the short intervals when they found 
themselves together, Percival and Effie con- 
versed with amiable insipidity, and even, to the 
onlooker, presented a confidential air which 
added weight to the rumors already current. 

When Mrs. Trevor finally conveyed the re- 
189 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


luctant Effie to the dressing-room, he waited 
on the steps to put them into the omnibus, and 
succeeded in evoking a cordial handshake and 
a radiant smile from the debutante. Mr. Floyd 
was talking very loud, and the electric lights 
already looked pale against the reddening 
brown of the sky. Effie sank back against the 
cushions with a little sigh of happiness. The 
ordeal was triumphantly passed. 

Mrs. Townshend came the following after- 
noon to talk over the ball, and Mr. Floyd came 
with her. We were terribly cross at my 
house,” she announced, so we thought we 
would inflict ourselves on you. Child, don’t 
you want to take me sailing? ” 

I’m pining to,” said Jim, but the truth is, 
I’m expecting to be called to town.” 

What, when your best-beloved cousin 
wants you? ” 

“ I assure you, it breaks my heart.” 

Let’s all go sailing,” Mr. Floyd suggested. 
“ You are just as cross here as we were, and it 
will do you good.” 

I’ll walk down to the Club with you,” said 

Jim. 

At the boat-house they met Percival. 

There’s no breeze,” he said, disparagingly. 

190 


WE EAT AT ST. VINCENT’S 


“ Good heavens, isn’t there anything we can 
do?” cried Mr. Floyd, accusingly. 

Row,” Mrs. Beverly suggested. 

I only like to row by moonlight,” said Mrs. 
Townshend. 

I like it when the water is smooth like 
this,” Miss Fenwick announced. Then I’m 
not afraid.” 

“ I’ll take you out for a little, if you’ll have 
pity on my need of exercise,” said Percival. 
“ You look as fresh as a daisy, but I’m always 
floored by a dance in the country.” 

“ That would be very nice. We will wait for 
you here,” said Mrs. Trevor. Don’t go too far, 
Sidney, for I’m getting a longing for my tea.” 

“ Won’t you come? ” 

Mrs. Trevor laughed and shook her head. 
He settled Effie comfortably in the stern and 
instructed her in the art of steering. She 
launched into enthusiastic reminiscences of the 
previous evening, then became pensive and 
looked at the water. Well, I never dared 
hope that it would turn out like that,” she 
finally observed. 

You surely didn’t think you were going to 
be a wall-flower? ” 

“ I was awfully afraid so,” she confessed, 
191 


FOUR-IN-HAND 

especially since — oh, you know what I 
mean! ” 

I am afraid it was partly my fault. I don’t 
mean that I ever thought you were destined to 
such a dreadful fate, but I was very much in 
dread of club gossips, and I suppose my appre- 
hensions made me pessimistic.” 

You were certainly horrid about it,” she 
agreed, promptly. 

“ But do you think that it was altogether 
nonsense? ” 

“ I suppose not.” 

“ You were a trifle horrid yourself, you 
know,” said Percival. “ The scorn with which 
you received my suggestion was so crushing 
that I wonder I have the courage to repeat it.” 

Oh, don’t talk of it at all! ” 

He leaned on his oars and looked at her, 
with a feeling that he was trifling with his fate. 
‘‘ We are better friends than we were then. 
Can’t I induce you to change your mind? ” 

I shall never change my mind,” she de- 
clared with decision, because I don’t love you, 
and you don’t love me.” There was no anger 
this time in her tone, but her feelings were evi- 
dently ruffled, and Percival, much relieved, 
made haste to soothe them. 

192 


WE EAT AT ST. VINCENT’S 


“ Then I shall not bother you any more 
about it/’ he said. I hope this hasn’t cost me 
the little I had gained? ” 

I would rather be friends with you, I 
think,” said Effie. 

Thank you,” said Percival. “ I shall be 
very glad of that.” 

As they neared the shore once more, Mr. 
Floyd, who had been awaiting their return with 
interest, observed meaningly, I see your 
game. You send ’em out on the water with in- 
structions to spoon, then you marry ’em off and 
keep ’em in the family for future use.” 

^‘BohhyP^ cried the scandalized ladies in 
chorus. 

He walked down to the edge of the landing, 
and yelled to the luckless pair: Oh, don’t 
hurry! We won’t wait for you.” 

Percival landed the boat. We haven’t 
been gone half an hour,” he said, not compre- 
hending Mr. Floyd’s innuendo until the dread- 
ful significance of the marplot’s face betrayed 
him. 

I know that three’s a crowd,” Bobby pro- 
ceeded. Good Lord, Roy, you needn’t walk all 
over me! ” 

I need do worse if there is to be any living 
193 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


with you,” Trevor growled, and hurried off with 
Mrs. Beverly. Mrs. Townshend had already 
drawn Effie ahead with her and was walking 
rapidly back to the Club House, and Bobby, 
having received black looks from both the re- 
maining members of the party, strutted off 
with his nose in the air. Percival brought up 
the rear with the beauty. 

Well, I obeyed your commands,” he an- 
nounced, and she won’t have me at any price.” 

‘‘ Did you ask her nicely? ” 

I did the best I could. I may not have been 
fervent,” he admitted. “ I felt it was rather 
overstraining a point, and so, evidently, did 
she.” 

“ Well, at least don’t look so relieved. It’s 
positively indecent.” 

“ I’ll look wretched if you’ll only tell me why 
you wanted me to go through with that foolish- 
ness again.” 

Don’t you know that there are some things 
one feels and can’t explain? ” 

“ If you feel that Miss Fenwick and I are 
suited to each other, I don’t wonder that you 
are at a loss to explain it,” he said sympathet- 
ically. 

The others had preceded them to the Club, 
194 


WE EAT AT ST. VINCENT’S 


and were sitting in the hall, save Mr. Floyd, 
who was smoking on the piazza, in well-merited 
disgrace. When his gregariousness overcame 
his injured dignity, he met with a chilling re- 
ception, but he made a desperate and success- 
ful attempt to reinstate himself in favor. 
Planting himself in the midst of the group, he 
remarked in a mysterious tone: Truffles! ” 
The utter irrelevancy of the observation 
caused smiles to play upon the lips of his 
judges, and Trevor so far unbent as to inquire: 
“ Where? 

At St. VincenPs,^^ said Bobby. 

Eighteen miles, and a baddish road,’^ 
Trevor objected. 

It isn^t bad at all, and you havenT had the 
drag out since spring. As for Sid^s it must be 
mildewed. ITl make up a party for you, and 
weTl tool over to-morrow afternoon. I’ll tele- 
graph ahead, and we’ll have some of those 
truffled mushrooms with just a touch of garlic. 
You’d think it would be nasty, but by Jove, it’s 
superb. Then we can spend the night, and 
come back the next day.” 

They always have such wretched beds in 
those small country hotels!” Mrs. Beverly ob- 
jected. 


195 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


^‘Well, ladies and gentlemen — and Sidney 
— what do you say? ’’ Mr. Floyd inquired. 

Oh, let ns go,’’ said Mrs. Townshend. 

There is nothing else to do.” Mr. Floyd de- 
parted, triumphant, to telegraph his behests, 
and found Jim sending a wire at the desk. 

“ Hello, Child, you’re not really going to 
town, are you? ” he demanded. We shall 
want yon to-morrow. 

“ I’ll go with you,” Jim agreed, when the 
plan had been laid before him, “ but if I find 
that I want to go up, I shall take the train at 
St. Vincent’s. You needn’t mention it, though.” 

It was therefore no surprise to the prime 
mover in this pleasure excursion that, when the 
two drags had landed their respective loads at 
their destination, and the party had broken up 
into twos and threes, young Mr. Trevor escaped 
from his vigilant cousin, rushed for the office, 
and upon the receipt of a yellow envelope which 
he found awaiting him, disappeared entirely. 
His absence was not noted until dinner-time, 
when his confidant, on being interrogated, 
owned with great importance to a suspicion of 
the young man’s errand. The dinner was excel- 
lent, and as lively as though the minds of two 
at least of the party had not been filled with 
196 


WE EAT AT ST. VINCENT’S 


uncomfortable forebodings, and Mr. Floyd par- 
took so largely of his favorite dishes as to cause 
Mrs. Townshend an anxious moment. Re- 
member how it was with the St. Honord,’’ she 
cautioned him, “ and don’t, I implore you, have 
one of your attacks in this wretched little 
place! ” He paid no heed to her warning, how- 
ever, and drank a great deal of Burgundy, 
which never agreed with him, with the result 
that when the others were disporting them- 
selves with various degrees of enjoyment in the 
billiard-room and on the piazza, he was obliged 
to seek his room, which was far from luxurious, 
and writhe on his hard bed for the remainder 
of the evening. 

Trevor and Mrs. Beverly had been missing 
for some time, and Effie was walking up and 
down the piazza with Tom Lawrence, her most 
recent affinity, when a message arrived for Mrs. 
Townshend and Percival that the gentleman in 
number thirty-seven thought he was dying, and 
would they please to come at once. Percival 
was unsympathetic enough to laugh when Mrs. 
Trevor, on his return, inquired for news of the 
invalid. “ He has eaten too much, that’s all, 
and Spriggy spoils him. He repents of his sins, 
and disposes of his personal property every 
197 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


time he indulges in these little gustatory in- 
discretions. You look tired yourself, Clip.” 

“ I have a headache,” said Mrs. Trevor. 

Come outside, and see if the air won’t 
make you feel better,” Percival suggested. 
They paced up and down in the darkness, a 
good distance behind the others, and for the 
most part in silence. He knew that something 
was amiss with her, and he suspected that it 
was not Jim’s departure alone that had taken 
the color out of her face, and made her hold 
her head even higher than usual; but it was 
only of Jim that he dared to speak, consolingly, 
as always, and making light of her apprehen- 
sions. It was late when the missing members 
of the party turned up. They had been for a 
walk, they explained, and in taking a short cut 
home had lost their way. Mrs. Beverly was 
flushed, animated, and fairly pretty. The scat- 
tered forces reunited over a hot punch, and 
Anally trooped up the dim stairs to their un- 
attractive quarters. 

Trevor, rummaging in his dressing-case, 
heaved a comfortable sigh. Poor Nelly! ” he 
said. She has had a pretty hard time of it.” 

Mrs. Trevor for the first time appeared un- 
responsive. 


198 


WE EAT AT ST. VINCENT’S 


That old man is a cranky old demon,” he 
continued, after a pause; ^‘the sort of a man 
who would make any woman miserable. And 
Nelly is the sort that needs sympathy.” 

Why did she marry him, then, if she didn^t 
love him? ” 

My dear, at times you make extraordinar- 
ily simple speeches.” 

Mrs. Trevor surveyed the dingy carpet with 
disfavor. Of all absurd fiascoes, this is the 
climax. I never have any faith in Bobby’s bril- 
liant ideas, but this is the worst yet. I am 
ashamed to be responsible for such a miserable 
pleasure-exertion.” 

Oh, well, if the Child chooses to bolt after 
that woman, and Bobby will gorge himself, 
you’re not responsible. You always worry 
about such things, and where’s the use? ” 

If you had only spoken to Jim when you 
first knew about it ” 

“ Now what good would it have done? He’s 
your brother, not mine.” 

Don’t talk, please. I’m tired.” 

“ You mean you’re out of sorts.” 

I certainly have a bad headache.” 

I don’t interfere with you, you know,” he 
observed, suddenly. It was only when, some 
199 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


moments later, he discovered that she was cry- 
ing, that he was visited by a pang of compunc- 
tion, and slopped cologne down her neck in a 
propitiatory attempt to bathe her head. She 
accepted his overtures graciously, as she al- 
ways did, and on Mrs. Beverly’s departure a 
week later she displayed her usual affectionate 
regret at losing her, which was all the more to 
her credit, as she was not a woman who forgot 
easily. 


200 


CHAPTER XVII 


WHICH MAY NOT IMPROVE THE READER’S 
OPINION OF MR. PERCIVAL 

No such apprehensions now tormented the 
debutante as had oppressed her prior to her 
first ball, and on her return to town with the 
Trevors she plunged with enthusiasm into the 
gaieties of the season. She also managed to 
attach to her train a goodly following of 
youths and one old friend of PercivaPs who ap- 
peared seriously smitten with her youthful 
prettiness. Effie, however, at this period, ap- 
peared to be absolutely fancy-free, and smiled 
impartially upon all men who danced, with 
only a degree less of cordiality for those who 
did not. She was considerably f^ted. Mrs. 
Townshend gave a series of dinners in her 
honor, Mrs. Percival a large theater-party, and 
Mrs. Trevor sent out cards for a cotillion in her 
white-and-gold ballroom. It was on this last 
occasion that Percival incurred the disfavor of 
his hostess in a most unexpected manner. He 
201 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


was dancing with Effie, who had preferred not 
to lead herself, but he obligingly afforded his 
friend Lawrence ample opportunities for a teU- 
d-tete, and disappeared into the little conserv- 
atory with Effie^s friend Kate Porter, who had 
marked him for her own with the frankness of 
the modern damsel from the moment of his 
first introduction. When he finally reappeared 
in time to take his turn with his legitimate 
partner, Mrs. Townshend waylaid him and gave 
him a piece of her mind. You ought to think 
about those things,” she said, and not run any 
risks of her taking a fancy to him.” 

^^Why shouldn’t she take a fancy to him? 
He’s one of the best fellows going,” said Per- 
cival. 

Of course it isn’t his fault,” his cousin’s 
wife admitted, “ but you should have remem- 
bered that his father and mother are both in 
the insane asylum, and when one is responsible 
for a young girl’s future, one can’t be too care- 
ful. Clip is very much worried.” 

“ But he’s all right himself,” Percival pro- 
tested. 

You know as well as I do that it is heredi- 
tary, even if it does sometimes skip a genera- 
tion,” she said, severely. Now for pity’s sake 
202 


READER’S OPINION OF PERCIVAL 


stay where you belong, and don^t give him an- 
other chance this evening.’^ 

Mrs. Beverly was distributing favors from 
a bower of chrysanthemums when Mr. Floyd, 
resting a moment from the assiduities of lead- 
ership, slipped a piece of paper into her hand. 

I think you ought to see this clipping from 
the Gossip,’’ he said. You know I warned 
you, months ago, but you wouldn’t take my ad- 
vice, and this is the result.” 

She thrust the slip into her corsage for safe- 
keeping. “ I’ll read it to-night,” she promised, 
and be properly indignant the next time I see 
you.” 

“ Oh, you’ll be indignant enough! ” he proph- 
esied as he returned to his post. 

Although she ordinarily ignored his hints, 
something in his tone aroused her apprehen- 
sions, and she availed herself of a moment 
when the conservatory was unoccupied to show 
the clipping to Trevor. “ It’s some of Bobby’s 
nonsense, I suppose,” she said. Let us see 
what it is, and then throw it away.” 

“ From the Gossip, I see,” said Trevor. 
Sometimes I think he writes for that dirty 
sheet himself; ” and, with their heads close to- 
gether, they read : “ It is reported that Mr. 

14 203 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Kennan’s forthcoming novel will treat of the 
fortunes of a well-known New York family, and 
the matrimonial misadventures of a lady from 
the seat of culture, who some years ago almost 
succeeded in breaking off the match between 
the hero of the tale and his wife. I am told 
that the characters are far too recognizable, 
and that on the publication of The Four Sea- 
sons a storm must inevitably burst upon Mr. 
Kennan’s audacious head. Well-known club- 
men, shining lights of the Hub, and noted beau- 
ties, are explosive material from which to fash- 
ion a story, and the daring novelist may find 
that truth is more dangerous than fiction, 
should those whose frailties he has utilized so 
ably be foolish enough to enhance their public- 
ity by suing him for libel.” 

Trevor took the bit of paper from her and 
read it again. “What infernal rot!” he said, 
angrily. “ You mustn’t think that it means 
anything.” 

“ Bobby evidently thinks so,” said Mrs. 
Beverly. Curiously enough, she appeared less 
disturbed than he did. 

“ Bobby has a nose for a scandal. Why 
should people talk? They don’t talk.” 

“ Would you care so much if they did? ” 

204 


READER’S OPINION OF PERCIVAL 


“ Shouldn't you? 

I must make up my mind not to care/^ said 
Mrs. Beverly, for the fact is, I’m not going 
back to Boston. I have taken a little house 
in Newport, and I expect to be there all 
winter.” 

“ When you say Boston, you surely don’t 
mean ” 

“ Mr. Beverly? Yes, indeed, I do. His fam- 
ily and mine will raise a hue and cry, and tell 
me I’m going to perdition. However, I would 
rather have mud thrown at me than live as I 
am living.” 

Well, I don’t blame you,” said Trevor. 

Still, for the sake of appearances, I wish you 
would promise me to do nothing rash. I hate 
to have you talked about.” 

I have received two anonymous letters al- 
ready.” 

The devil you have! Will you let me see 
them? ” 

“ Of course I won’t. Why should you be 
bothered with them? They are probably only 
the beginning of my troubles.” 

I’ll have them stopped.” 

Don’t be foolish, Roy. I don’t want you to 
worry about them. Besides, I am going away. 

205 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


I have stayed here too long. Sometimes I think 
that Clip is tired of me.” 

Of course she isn’t. She’s awfully sorry 
for you. She would be down on you, though, I’m 
afraid, if you got a divorce.” 

When she has seen what he is? ” 

“ I don’t like them myself,” said Trevor. 

Mrs. Beverly clasped her hands tragically. 

Then you’ll desert me too! ” she said. 

“ You know why I won’t,” said Trevor. 
Partly through perversity, and partly be- 
cause only a strenuous effort could have balked 
her determination, Percival had allowed Miss 
Porter to bear him off in triumph a second time 
to the conservatory which Trevor and Mrs. 
Beverly had just left, and here he was discov- 
ered by his hostess. When the swdsh of skirts 
was heard outside he had relinquished the girl’s 
hand with a little pressure, while she exclaimed 
over the lateness of the hour. I’m sorry. Miss 
Porter, but your mother has come for you,” said 
Mrs. Trevor, pushing back the hangings with 
one white arm. She was not a tall woman, but 
there was that in her bearing which enabled 
her to dispense with inches. Now, as she stood 
in the door, Kate felt the waves of an imper- 
sonal scorn overwhelm her, and her protests of 
206 


READER’S OPINION OF PERCIVAL 


gratitude for a “perfectly heavenly time’’ were 
fraught with fear lest through her own incau- 
tiousness she had forfeited an opportunity of 
repeating the pleasure. 

Percival, who, to his shame, did not share 
the embarrassment of his fellow culprit, fol- 
lowed the beauty, who greeted him with a little 
scornful flicker of the eyelids. “Well, Clip?” 
he said, meekly. 

“ I’m extremely sorry for that girl,” said 
Mrs. Trevor. 

“ That girl,” said Percival with conviction, 
“ can take care of herself.” 

The ballroom had thinned out during his 
absence, and his abandoned partner was in- 
dulging with apparent enjoyment in a supple- 
mentary dance. He knew that he had been 
rude, but he also knew that she had not noticed 
his absence, and he reproached her for her 
neglect as he said good night to her. It was 
never so easy to make peace with Mrs. Trevor, 
who hardly spoke to him, and gave him her 
hand in a perfunctory manner. It was plain 
enough to him that her pique was purely on 
Effie’s account, but he lingered a little, talking 
to Mrs. Beverly, in the vain hope that Clip 
might relent and be herself once more. His eyes 
207 


FOUR-IN-HAND 

wandered in spite of himself, until he felt that 
he was being subjected to a keen scrutiny, and 
left the house with a growing depression. In 
truth, Mrs. Beverly had seen his face more than 
once when she read there, not a mere habitual 
devotion to a fashionable woman, but a real 
passion, such as her own for Trevor, and the 
discovery somehow gave her a feeling of tri- 
umph and security. 


208 


CHAPTER XVIII 


FOR THEIR OWN GOOD 

Maybe you hanker after the job of talking 
quite plainly to Roy,” said Mr. Floyd. Now 
I don’t. I’ve done it before, and it generally 
ended in his talking quite plainly to me. I’m 
no coward, as you know, and I never shrink 
from my duty when it’s merely a question of 
speaking the truth, but when a person simply 
won’t pay any attention to you, where’s the use 
of wasting your breath? And of course, if he 
won’t heed what I say, it isn’t likely he’ll listen 
to you. No; we’ve got to do something! ” 

His two satellites regarded him dubiously. 
I don’t see what you can do,” Archie objected, 
and as for sitting calmly by and seeing that 
angel imposed upon, when everybody is talking 
about it, no man with any sense of decency 
could do it.” 

And he’s so damned particular about other 
people! ” growled Jim. 

And the gossip! The scandal! ” cried Mr. 

209 


FOUR-IN-HA]^D 


Floyd with uplifted hands. Of course, people 
don’t talk to you as frankly as they do to me, 
but I assure you it is something awful. Es- 
pecially after the night of Clip’s dance, when 
they were lost for hours! As though it weren’t 
bad enough to hide themselves in the conserv- 
atory all one figure, they must needs go sit on 
the stairs when everybody was leaving, and 
make a spectacle of themselves for gods and 
men. I know it’s done every day, but to visit 
a woman and carry off her husband under her 
own roof is a crying shame, and I can’t see why 
on earth Clip doesn’t put her foot down.” 

She won’t hear a word against either of 
them,” said Jim. I have warned her twice, 
but she’s pig-headed.” 

You can’t expect a lovely trusting nature 
like that to realize such baseness,” Archie ex- 
postulated. I hope she may never know.” 

Well, she will know, and that pretty soon,” 
Mr. Floyd declared, vindictively, “ for I won’t 
stand such rotten proceedings in our set. And 
when she does know, you’ll see that she’s not 
Madam Trevor’s granddaughter for nothing.” 

“ I wish Percival would do something,” said 
Archie. 

“ For pity’s sake don’t mention such a thing 
210 


FOR THEIR OWN GOOD 


to him,” Mr. Floyd protested, who would have 
been loath to reveal his plans to his cousin. 
“ We must do this ourselves, whatever it is, and 
be prepared for the rankest kind of ingratitude. 
People never will realize that you do things all 
for their own good.” 

Mrs. Townshend’s voice rose above the 
chatter of her day at home. I don^t care 
what you wear, so long as you are neither 
peasants nor flower-girls.” 

I have a mind to be both, out of revenge,” 
said Trevor. Spriggy, why will you do it? ” 

I suppose she knows of some deserving 
costumer who needs to be helped along. De- 
pend upon it, she will send his address with 
every card,” Mrs. Beverly suggested. Mr. 
Percival, you are artistic. Won’t you think 
up a costume for me ? ” 

I’m thinking up my own. May I wear my 
old red tights? ” 

“You shall not be Mephistopheles again. 
I want you to be something historical. We 
are all going to be historical,” said Mrs. 
Townshend. 

“ No suggestions, I beg. If I must make an 
ass of myself, let me do it in my own way,” 
Percival entreated. 


211 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


“ If you feel like that, you needn’t go,” said 
Effie, severely. 

“ Then I shouldn’t see the rest of you,” said 
Percival. 

“ I thought perhaps your nose would tempt 
you to don the virile toga,” said Mrs. Beverly. 

My nose is not Koman,” he replied, re- 
proachfully. “ It’s distinctly Percival, and 
indistinctly Townshend.” 

“ I’m going to look in at the Club for a mo- 
ment before dinner,” said Trevor. “ Are you 
coming, Sid? ” 

Infernal nuisance, Spriggy and her balls! ” 
he grumbled as they started up Fifth Avenue 
together. I’m sick of this everlasting gad- 
ding. Jove! Think of the duck-shooting going 
to waste! I believe I’ll make a bolt of it, down 
to Jekyll Island, or some place where a man 
can have some peace. You had better come 
too. You don’t look very fit yourself.” 

One of us ought to be here when those 
Fortmounthouse lots are sold,” said Percival. 

If they don’t bring what they should, I shall 
bid them in and hold them.” 

Oh, the Fenwicks, the Fenwicks! ” groaned 
Trevor. Are you never going shooting with 
me again? ” 


212 


FOR THEIR OWN GOOD 


Go ahead, and Idl join you when I can,’^ 
his friend urged, well pleased at the prospect. 

“ By that time something else will turn up. 
I know how it will be,’^ Trevor announced, 
gloomily. Our good days together are over.” 

As a matter of fact, he was becoming 
alarmed at the position in which his incautious 
behavior had placed him. Mrs. Beverly’s hint 
of a divorce had filled him with forebodings. 

Why need she get one? ” he refiected, uncom- 
fortably. Our women never do those things.” 
And he had urged her to regard his house as 
her headquarters in town, as a second home! 
He was disconcerted by the callous manner in 
which she had accepted newspaper comment, 
and besides, she expected certain things of him, 
an attitude which always put him on the de- 
fensive. One of these things, it appeared, was 
to escort her the following Sunday afternoon 
to a certain low church, of whose revolutionary 
rector he strenuously disapproved, to listen to 
the discourse of a Hindu Suawmi in a rose- 
colored turban. The address was preceded by 
the usual service, and Trevor conducted his 
devotions with unwonted fervor, and leaned 
back in the pew afterward, trying to remember 
what he had said to her on various occasions, 
213 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


and wondering what had induced him to lose 
his head, and make a fool of himself. Of course, 
he had urged her to return to New York, and 
now everybody was talking about it. And the 
worst of it was that she loved him! 

Don’t you think there was a great deal in 
what he said?” she asked as they left the 
church. 

I didn’t listen to the beggar,” said Trevor, 
truthfully. I was thinking what guns I would 
take South with me.” 

Mrs. Beverly received this intelligence very 
nicely, since there seemed to be a question of no 
other woman. She planned a flying trip to 
Newport in his absence, and on the whole 
showed herself very philosophical, for which 
he was duly grateful. 

After his departure she appeared in an ami- 
able and obliging light, and even took some 
pains about her costume for Mrs. Townshend’s 
ball. She did not hear from Trevor, who, in- 
deed, was the worst of correspondents, and as- 
suaged the anxiety of his family only by occa- 
sional telegrams. The unsatisfactory nature 
of these communications had always been a 
source of secret grief to the beauty, especially 
when contrasted with the voluminous epistles 
214 


FOR THEIR OWN GOOD 


with which Percy Townshend favored his wife 
during his brief absences. Roy^s absences were 
generally anything but brief, and it was con- 
sequently a surprise to the family when he 
walked in unexpectedly, late one night, with a 
dress-suit case full of birds and a French bull- 
dog for Effie. 

Mrs. Trevor was seated before an open fire 
in her own room when he arrived. She wore a 
pink dressing-gown, and her hair was braided 
for the night. How is this? he asked as he 
kissed her. Aren’t you well? ” 

“I was tired, and Walkiire is so long, I 
didn’t stay,” she explained. Don’t you want 
some supper? ” 

He seated himself before the fire, and drew 
her down on his knee. You don’t seem par- 
ticularly glad to see me,” he said. 

Oh, I am! I have missed you dreadfully. 
I always feel homesick when you are away.” 

I was homesick myself,” he announced. 

I was afraid you wouldn’t be at home for 
Christmas,” she said. 

^^You needn’t have worried about that. 
Don’t you always get your own way? ” 

“ Indeed I don’t.” 

You and Spriggy, both of you, always do 
215 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


exactly as you please. You manage and fuss 
around until you get what you want, by hook 
or by crook,” said Trevor, and if you aren^t 
satisfied it’s your own fault.” 

“ Then you didnH want to come home? ” 

I don’t see what you’ve got in your head 
now,” said Trevor, medaciously. I’m sure I 
never stayed away so short a time before.” 

It is possible that Mrs. Trevor was bitterly 
aware of this. At all events, she swallowed a 
rising sob, and elaborately retied the ribbons 
at her waist. “ Perhaps it was because I’ve 
given up writing to you to come back soon,” 
she suggested. 

“ Well, of course, a man likes to feel that he 
is doing as he pleases,” he admitted. 

“ Do you think I interfere with you — now? ” 
she asked. 

Why, no. You’re not as much mattresse- 
femme as Spriggy,” he said, kindly. 

She suddenly buried her face on his shoul- 
der. Sometimes I’m afraid I haven’t made you 
very happy, Roy,” she said in a very small 
voice. 

“ Oh, nonsense! Of course you have. We’ve 
been as happy as possible,” said Trevor, hastily. 
“ What ails you to-night, Dolly? ” 

216 


FOR THEIR OWN GOOD 


“ If there is anything I can do — or give up — 
to make you more contented she faltered. 

“ My dear child, I am contented. Am I find- 
ing any fault with you? Haven’t I trusted you 
implicitly for five years? What should you give 
up? There’s no reason why we shouldn’t go on 
being just as comfortable as ever, except those 
everlasting Fenwicks. Come, let’s talk sense. 
How is the boy? ” 

The Christmas festivities proved sufficiently 
enlivening to Miss Fenwick, who, with her new 
dog under her arm, repaired to Tiffany’s to 
assist Mrs. Trevor in the selection of a new 
string of pearls. One of Trevor’s shortcomings 
in Mrs. Townshend’s eyes was his manner of 
giving presents to his wife. He writes her a 
check for Christmas,” she confided to Per- 
cival, “ and she would rather have a bunch of 
violets if he would take the trouble to choose 
it himself. Now poor dear Percy fusses about 
until he finds out what I want, and gets it for 
me, and I am very much surprised.” Mrs. Tre- 
vor, however, displayed no dissatisfaction with 
her gift, and the two friends hung over the 
coveted strands until a sharp yelp from the 
little dog caused Effie to turn and behold 
Mr. Floyd, who had pulled the tapering black 
217 


FOUR-IN-HAND 

tail which protruded temptingly below her 
muff. 

“ Bobby, you cruel wretch! ’’ she cried, indig- 
nantly. 

‘^Another good girl gone wrong!” sighed 
Mr. Floyd. ‘‘ Who would ever have expected 
to see you toting a dog? What are you buying, 
girls? Anything nice for me? ” 

No, you have had your presents from us 
already,” said Miss Fenwick. You surely 
don’t expect anything more.” 

You might give me a New Year’s gift,” Mr. 
Floyd suggested, or, if you prefer, I’ve got a 
birthday coming. Where did you get your 
bangle?” 

Mr. Percival gave it to me.” 

“ He gave me something insulting,” said Mr. 
Floyd. “ A China monkey, on a green cord. 
It is true, it was full of candy, but still, my 
feelings were hurt.” 

“ He gave you a scarf-pin too, for I helped 
him choose it myself,” said Effie. 

“ Oh, you and Sidney are getting terribly 
chummy. I don’t know about his giving you 
bangles, though. Clip, do you think that’s 
proper? ” 

“ The privileges of a guardian count for 
218 


FOR THEIR OWN GOOD 


something/^ said Mrs. Trevor. There he is, 
by the way.” 

“ I am so tired of eternally meeting the same 
people!” cried Mr. Floyd. When is Mrs. 
Beverly going back to Newport? How is she 
going to establish a residence there if she 
spends all her time in New York? And how 
the deuce is she going to get her divorce if she 
doesn’t establish a residence? Though if I were 
the judge, she’d have only to produce that old 
curmudgeon to win her case.” 

Mrs. Trevor pretended to be absorbed in 
her pearls, but Effie shook her head at the indis- 
creet gentleman, and Percival, who now came 
up, proposed that they should all accompany 
him to Washington Square to see a family of 
Angora kittens which his mother was raising. 

Mr. Floyd welcomed the suggestion with ac- 
clamations, and as Effie seemed favorably dis- 
posed, Mrs. Trevor, having concluded her pur- 
chase, consented to the expedition, and they set 
out. “ I suppose Silhouette must learn to get 
along with cats sooner or later,” Effie sagely 
remarked, as they walked down the avenue. 

Mrs. Percival was already exhibiting her 
feline family to an admiring circle in the China- 
room, where the late Mr. Townshend’s famous 
15 219 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


collection of miniatures looked down from the 
walls between cabinets overflowing with rare 
porcelains and enamels. The kittens, unawed 
by their novel surroundings, whisked their 
feathery tails among the Sevres and Wedg- 
wood, and scrambled up the legs of the Louis 
XV escritoire, while Silhouette barked shrilly 
from Effie^s arms, and their mother growled 
and arched her back from the tiled flreplace. 

Mrs. Trevor flitted from cabinet to cabinet, 
examining the markings of PercivaPs pet bits 
wdth a practised eye, but Effie, after picking 
out various familiar faces among the minia- 
tures, listened to the voice of Mr. Floyd, 
and expressed a desire to go up-stairs to the 
studio. 

“ There is really nothing to see. It isn’t in 
the least like Wingfield’s — ^just a bare room 
where I paint twice a year,” said Percival, dis- 
paragingly, and now appeared the reason for 
Mr. Floyd’s eagerness. 

Aren’t you going to show us your new 
French posters?” he asked. “I hear they’re 
corkers.” 

“ Why do you paint only twice a year? ” 
Miss Fenwick asked as they mounted the 
stairs. 


220 


FOR THEIR OWN GOOD 


“ Because Mrs. Townshend says I mustn’t,’’ 
he answered with specious meekness. 

“ Not really? ” 

It’s that absurd socialism of hers,” Mr. 
Floyd explained. She says there’s too much 
competition already, and he doesn’t need the 
money, and his pictures always had a certain 
vogue, you know, so she maintains that he has 
no right to sell ’em. Kot, I call it. Not that I 
can see why anybody should work who isn’t 
obliged to.” 

“ Do you always do what she wants you 
to? ” Effie demanded. 

“ I do when my better judgment prevails,” 
said Percival. 

“ But haven’t you anything of your own at 
all?” she asked, disappointed at the severity 
of the large room, with its skylight, its bare 
floor, and its walls, well covered with other 
people’s signed canvases. 

The models I want won’t sit for me. I 
commenced this last summer, at Fortmount- 
house,” said Percival, placing a head of Mrs. 
Townshend on an easel for their benefit, “ but 
she has never been able to spare me time 
enough to finish it.” 

Mrs. Trevor grew enthusiastic over the por- 
221 


FOUR-IN-HAISTD 


trait, and lamented afresh that he should bury 
his talents. Miss Fenwick privately thought 
the likeness too flattering, but forebore to 
speak her mind, and rummaged among the can- 
vases with their faces turned toward the wall. 
Mr. Floyd was deep among the posters, and 
finally appeared chuckling over a particularly 
flamboyant one, which he secured with thumb- 
tacks to a drawing-board. “ Look at this! ” he 
urged. ^‘That’s what I call a perfect lady, 
drunk or sober.” 

The lady in question had apparently seated 
herself on a sofa for the purpose of dislodging 
its former female occupant, and was turning a 
brazen countenance upon the man who re- 
mained. Her whole figure breathed such vul- 
gar triumph and malign determination that one 
divined her intention to remain even without 
the aid of the legend: La Femme qui Reste.” 

Nasty common thing!” said Miss Fen- 
wick, vindictively. 

She is funny, but what a vulgar wretch! ” 
said Mrs. Trevor. “ She reminds me of some- 
body, all the same.” 

^Awfully clever drawing there is in that 
figure!” said Percival. Can’t you feel that 
she’s there to stay? ” 


222 


FOR THEIR OWN GOOD 


“ Now I know who she looks like! ” cried Mr. 
Floyd in triumph. IFs Mrs. Beverly.’’ 

Nonsense, Bobby! A coarse-looking crea- 
ture like that? ” 

You can’t deny that you see it yourself. 
It only needs a touch to make it perfect. Here, 
give me that brush, Sid,” Mr. Floyd com- 
manded. He was proceeding to lengthen the 
eyebrows with great smudges when Percival, 
unable to endure such slopping, drove him 
away from the easel, and with a few lines of 
brown and red altered the poster woman into a 
caricatured, but admirable, likeness of Mrs. 
Beverly. There, if you must spoil my poster! ” 
he said, standing aside. 

Mr. Floyd shrieked with rapture, but Mrs. 
Trevor froze at once, and speedily swept her 
charge down-stairs, protesting that they had 
made too long a stay already. 

I’ll burn it,” Percival offered, as he put her 
into her carriage. 

^^That couldn’t make me forget that you 
have done a very cruel thing,” she said, and he 
returned to the house with the sad conviction 
that his indiscretion had plunged him still 
deeper in her disfavor. 

I no longer wonder that Bobby is stout,” 
223 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Mrs. Percival observed at luncheon. He 
called a cab to take him five blocks. But per- 
haps it was because he had a parcel. He sent 
Theresa for wrapping-paper and twine, and I 
hope he hasn’t carried off another of my photo- 
graphs.” 


224 


CHAPTEK XIX 


WE CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS AT FORTMOUNT- 
HOUSE 

^^Ugh! How I love the beautiful, unadul- 
terated country! ” Mr. Floyd shivered, standing 
before the sideboard at The Cedars, and pour- 
ing himself a stiff drink of Scotch whisky. 

There won’t be any skating, either, with this 
beastly snow. Why did I leave my comfortable 
home to sway in Sidney’s ancestral draughts 
like a reed in the storm? ” 

“ A good stout reed! ” said Percival. You 
know I didn’t urge you, Robert. I was very 
loath to come myself.” 

It’s another of Spriggy’s accursed ideas,” 
said Trevor. By the way, Bobby, did you ever 
see this writing before? ” 

Mr. Floyd pursed up his lips as he studied 
the superscription of the envelope which his 
friend held out to him. “ It looks sort of famil- 
iar,” he said with deliberation, and yet I can’t 
place it. Who’s it from ? ” 

225 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


That’s what I would give a good deal to 
know,” said Trevor, replacing it in his pocket. 

I thought perhaps you might help me.” 

Anonymous? ” Mr. Floyd inquired, forget- 
ting his sufferings in his curiosity. Let me 
see! ” 

No, I thank you,” said Trevor. 

Anything about the Child? ” Mr. Floyd 
persisted. 

No. Damn it, I’m sorry I mentioned it! ” 
said Trevor. 

“ This is a nice spirit in which to begin 
the New Year,” said Mr. Floyd, virtuously. 

It strikes me, Roy, that you’re very irri- 
table lately. Hadn’t you better see a doc- 
tor? ” 

Trevor departed for the drawing-room, 
muttering something about a bull in a china- 
shop, and Percival joined Mrs. Townshend in 
the draughty bay-window, through the frost- 
coated panes of which they could hardly see the 
swaying sheets of snow. “ You look pensive,” 
he said. “ Are you wishing you had had the 
sense to stay at home? ” 

No. I was making good resolutions for 
the New Year,” she said. “ Do you want to hear 
my list as far as I have gone? ” 

226 


WE CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS 


It should begin with a solemn vow never 
to give another costume ball/’ he interrupted. 

Well, it doesn’t. My ball is going to be a 
howling success. I begin with not spending 
more on my clothes than I do on my charities, 
or dancing three times running with anybody. 
I’m going without a new set of furs, and I shall 
make my children obey me as well as they do 
their governess. Oh, you may laugh, but I 
assure you it is no joke. And I really intend 
not to meddle in what doesn’t concern me, 
though it is hard, when you see everything go- 
ing awry, to remember that you have no right 
to speak, and can only hold your tongue and be 
sorry.” Her eyes wandered, as she spoke, 
toward Mrs. Beverly, who was talking across 
the tea-table to Trevor, with the glow of the 
fire kindling her face into an elusive beauty. 
She turned her head with a sigh, and dismissed 
the subject. And now for yours,” she said. 

Must I make some? I shall only break 
them, and I think it might be more honest to 
dispense with them.” 

You might try keeping them,” she sug- 
gested. You have been known to do such a 
thing.” 

It seems to be harder than it used to be,” 
227 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


said Percival, speculatively, and sooner or 
later there conies a time when you feel the 
game isn’t worth the candle.” 

She turned on him with a sudden impulse. 

You canH allow one disappointment to spoil 
your whole life! Forgive an old friend for 
speaking plainly, but I hoped — I believed — that 
all that was a closed book.” 

So did I,” said Percival, or I should not 
have taken any risks. But books have a habit 
of opening themselves at the pages you have 
read the oftenest.” 

I am sorry,” she murmured, clearing a lit- 
tle space on the window-pane, through which 
she could watch the bare trees swaying in the 
wind. 

I’m sorry myself,” he observed with a 
short laugh. “ What are you going to wear to- 
night?” 

Something new and hideous. See how I 
have broken a resolution already. Don’t you 
wish I were a man, so that you could snub my 
officiousness as it deserves? ” 

If you were a man you would be a mission- 
ary bishop, and I trust I should treat your 
opinions with proper deference,” said, Percival. 

But as Heaven has seen fit to make you my 
228 


WE CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS 


dear cousin instead, I shall continue to have 
faith in your discretion.’’ 

While the ladies dressed for dinner Mr. 
Floyd was fussing about with an air of great 
mystery, suspending bunches of mistletoe in 
unexpected places, abetted by the unworthy 
Jim Trevor. Miss Fenwick, descending first, 
was caught by both in the doorway, but basely 
refrained from warning the others, who fell 
victims in their turn. The announcement of 
dinner temporarily suspended these holiday 
pranks, but no sooner had Mr. Floyd returned 
to the drawing-room than he devoted his in- 
genuity to luring each lady in turn into the 
trap which he had prepared for her. Only Mrs. 
Trevor had so far eluded his pursuit, and as she 
escaped from him, owing to her greater fieet- 
ness of foot, the others joined hands in a circle 
around him to prevent his following her. She 
had slipped out of the room, and stood inno- 
cently in the library door, breathless with 
laughter, a trifie disheveled, and very lovely. 
Percival, who had followed her with a fan 
picked up at random, noticed, as he waved it 
vigorously for her benefit, that another of 
Bobby’s holiday traps was suspended directly 
over their heads. They did not talk, though the 
229 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


coolness which had existed between them 
since the affair of the poster seemed to be dis- 
sipated that evening. As they stood there, a 
great crash as of falling furniture resounded 
from the next room, and a little sprig of mistle- 
toe, becoming loosened from the bunch, drifted 
down on to the beauty^s hair and lodged there. 
Percival, seeing this, yielded to temptation, 
stooped and kissed her. She wavered for a mo- 
ment, undecided whether to treat the matter 
as a part of the evening’s folly and accept the 
explanatory sprig which he held out to her, or 
to resent something in his face which she had 
not seen there since her marriage had deprived 
him of the right to love her. As for him, if he 
had commenced by being in jest, he was now 
deplorably in earnest, but he stood waiting for 
his cue, ready to laugh it off or apologize, as the 
case demanded. 

I thought,” said the beauty, with lowered 
eyelids, that you respected me.” 

In view of their common past the situation 
was fraught with delicacy, but he tried to make 
out a case for himself by stating an obvious 
fact. If any of the rest of us had done it, you 
would not have cared. Why was it so much 
worse in me?” Then, seeing that she did not 
230 


WE CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS 


reply, he answered his own question. Oh, I 
understand, I am the one of all others who had 
no right. But it was not respect that I failed 
in. Clip. Can you forgive me? ” 

“ Circumstances won^t permit us to quarrel, 
so I suppose I must try to forget it,’^ said Mrs. 
Trevor, with a tremor in her voice, and turned 
away from him. In the adjoining room Mr. 
Floyd was being pelted with sofa-cushions by 
his whilom victims, until Mrs. Percival sug- 
gested that they should repair the ravages 
wrought by their childish diversions, and set 
out for the dance. 

The ballroom was decorated as befitted the 
season, and every one appeared in gala attire 
and holiday spirits. At midnight the entire 
assemblage drank the old year out and the new 
year in, in glasses of egg-nog brewed in an 
enormous punch-bowl under the supervision of 
Mr. Dickman. To Percival the coming twelve 
months looked very black indeed, and as EfiQe, 
sipping her mixture with a grimace, confided 
to him that she drank it only because he said 
she must, his thoughts were dwelling remorse- 
fully on the enormity of his own conduct. He 
had yielded to the impulse to treat Clip as, 
without the slightest compunction, he would 
231 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


have treated any other woman of his acquaint- 
ance, and the fact that he himself had broken 
down the barriers with which he had always 
hedged her sacredness was too appalling to be 
considered with philosophy. Of course she had 
been outraged — indeed, she must otherwise 
have fallen in his estimation — and it was 
merely a great forbearance and delicacy which 
moved her to tolerate his presence. He had 
been a brute to add to her burdens by his lack 
of self-control, he was guilty and ashamed, and 
yet, judge himself as harshly as he might, in 
his heart he could not wish the thing forgotten. 


232 


CHAPTEK XX 


IN WHICH MR. TREVOR BECOMES MORE DEEPLY 
IMMERSED IN HOT WATER 

It was at the anxiously awaited costume 
ball that Miss Fenwick felt the first thorn in 
her bed of roses, and this, curiously enough, 
was the sudden cessation of PercivaPs public 
homage, and the unprecedented manner in 
which he identified himself with the Brent 
party. Effie herself found that a ruff and far- 
thingale robbed her favorite pastime of half its 
charms, and so could attribute his remissness 
in the matter of dances to the oppressive 
splendor of his attire. Uncongenial raiment 
seemed to clog the activities of many of her 
partners, but surely a man who has been con- 
spicuously devoted need not allow a mere 
matter of pointed shoes and velvet mantle to 
estrange him from his customary circle. One 
end of Delmonico^s ballroom was transformed 
into a Florentine garden, and here, sitting upon 
the edge of an improvised fountain, the recal- 
233 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


citrant Percival devoted himself to the enter- 
tainment of a rival belle, and later was seen in 
confidential converse with Mrs. Beverly, the 
only one of his immediate set whom he distin- 
guished by particular notice that evening. Mr. 
Floyd, who, despite the defiance of his nose, 
had carried out his fatal project of appearing 
as Napoleon, was well pleased at the latter 
arrangement. He sees how matters stand, 
and he’s keeping her out of mischief,” he re- 
flected. “ I wish to Heaven he’d cut Koy out.” 
In so favorable a light did the example appear 
to him that he resolved to emulate it without 
further delay, and to utilize that tact and dis- 
cretion so essential for the handling of delicate 
situations, and which he fondly fancied himself 
to possess. He therefore found time among his 
many cares to rush to her side whenever he 
saw Trevor approaching, and to slip into his 
cousin’s seat on the fountain-brink, where he 
proceeded to exercise his talents for the public 
weal. 

What’s Lawrence supposed to be? Oh, a 
herald? He looks like a sandwich-man. He 
certainly seems gone on Effie. What a little 
fool she is not to take Sidney while she can get 
him!” 


234 


MR. TREVOR IN HOT WATER 


She evidently has the sense to know that 
he only asked her to oblige Clip/’ Mrs. Beverly 
observed, not to be outdone in frankness. 

Oh, come, now, he’s decidedly epris of her,” 
he protested. 

“ The man is in love with Clip, and always 
has been.” 

That isn’t a nice thing to say,” Mr. Floyd 
pronounced severely, though he had been 
known to be guilty of the same remark himself 
before now. “ He used to be. I’ll admit, and 
can you blame him? Everybody knows that 
they were practically engaged after she and 
Roy had their little falling out. Old Madam 
Trevor arranged it, and though it wasn’t 
formally announced, the whole family enter- 
tained them. And then Clip threw him over 
for Roy again, and I have always thought that 
it was Sidney who patched it up between them.” 

Most disinterested in him, I’m sure.” 

Well, at any rate, Roy was in Boston, and 
Sidney went there, and directly afterward 
there was a new deal all ’round, and Clip was 
engaged to Roy again.” 

“ Oh ! ” said Mrs. Beverly, in an enlightened 
tone. 

Sid was awfully hard hit, too, but good 
16 235 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Lord! a man doesn’t stay in love with the same 
woman for four years, especially when he sees 
that she’s dead spoons on another man.” 

But when he sees that she isnHf ” 

That hasn’t come yet,” said Mr. Floyd. 

Not that I shall blame her when it does.” 

She has a most enviable temperament. 
She will never break her heart for any man,” 
said Mrs. Beverly, or give any one the satis- 
faction of seeing her ruffled.” 

That’s where you’re wrong,” Mr. Floyd 
averred. “ You don’t know Clip as well as I do, 
but you’ll see! She’s pretty patient, but she 
won’t stand everything.” 

I suppose any woman, given sufficient 
provocation, will show her claws,” said Mrs. 
Beverly. But Clip seems to be singularly con- 
sistent.” 

Mr. Floyd considered for a moment, then 
said, darkly, “ You mean, you think she stands 
things because people who live in glass houses 
shouldn’t throw stones? ” 

I didn’t put it so frankly.” 

And that she thinks you are an excuse for 
Sidney? ” 

She shrugged her shoulders. You are im- 
possible! ” 


236 


MR. TREVOR IN HOT WATER 


“ So that’s your game! ” said Mr. Floyd. 

Yours seems to be seeing how far you can 
go,” said Mrs. Beverly, and I shouldn’t won- 
der if you found out pretty soon. You’re 
spoiled, of course, but do you think I will stand 
everything? ” 

It looks like it,” he returned. “ I knew 
you’d be fit to be tied about that clipping, and 
I know how people always act when you do 
things for their own good, but you see, on sec- 
ond thoughts, you behaved like a sensible 
woman about it, and I’m sure you will about 
this.” 

Mrs. Beverly looked at him with small love, 
and bit her lip. There was a certain hopeless- 
ness in entering the lists with Bobby. 

He continued in a soothing tone: Now 

there are lots of people who would pretend to 
you that there was no talk, and rip you to 
pieces the moment your back was turned, but 
that isn’t my way. I come to you and tell you 
honestly what people say, and whenever any- 
body runs you down in my hearing. I’ll tell ’em 
there’s no truth in it. I have some infiuence, as 
you know,” he concluded, modestly, but even 
I can’t hold things off much longer.” 

It was doubtful whether he could have held 
237 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


off an immediate reckoning but for the oppor- 
tune appearance of Percy Townshend, who was 
one of the few to wear his trappings with any 
sentiment more enlivening than resignation. 
Mr. Floyd strutted away, congratulating him- 
self on his diplomatic success, but it was the 
worse for Trevor later in the evening. 

Trevor’s case, at this juncture, though per- 
haps not meriting the sympathy of any right- 
minded person, was none the less unenviable 
and embarrassing, and circumstances had aris- 
en which rendered a decisive step of some sort 
an imperative necessity. Consequently Perci- 
val was favored by a visit at an unprecedented 
hour, and listened, while he breakfasted, to 
very pessimistic views on life in general, which 
were plainly but the prelude to more particular 
revelations. 

You’ve not been out already? Where’s 
the sense of getting up to time the lark? God 
knows, the day’s long enough without that!” 
he ejaculated. “ Beastly bore it was last night. 
That infernal tin breastplate of mine weighed 
six pounds, to say nothing of my other miseries. 
I’d rather shovel coal for a living. Kirsch in 
your coffee at this hour? Man, do you want to 
kill yourself? I feel like the last end of a mis- 
238 


MR. TREVOR IN HOT WATER 


spent life myself, but I have some regard for 
my stomach.” 

Percival, taking pity upon him, dismissed 
the butler, and prepared himself for an exposi- 
tion of grievances. Anything in the wind? ” 
he asked. 

Read these,” said Trevor, and handed a 
package of letters across the table to him. 

Percival glanced through the offending mis- 
sives. Blackmail,” he said. 

Pretty piece of business, isn’t it?” asked 
Trevor. Seem to be from two or three differ- 
ent people. Typewriting, as you see, and others 
in a disguised hand. But ITl take my oath I 
know that writing.” 

I’m always getting that sort of thing. It’s 
all in the day’s work,” said Percival. 

“ Well, if it were about your intimate affairs 
you wouldn’t take it so coolly. Can’t a man 
receive his own friends in his own house with- 
out being bombarded every mail by such rot as 
this? I’ve thought of Pinkerton. It’s awk- 
ward giving such a thing to the detectives, but 
it’s got to stop at some rate or other, for I can’t 
stand it much longer.” 

It is awkward,” Percival admitted. 

And the worst of it is,” the victim sud- 
239 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


denly confessed, they have had the infernal 
insolence to bother poor Mrs. Beverly in the 
same way. Things have come to a pretty pass 
when one can’t protect a friend from insult in 
one’s own house.” 

That’s bad.” 

Yes, it’s all very well to sit there and say 
^ that’s bad,’ but what would you do? ” 

Eeally, Roy, I can’t give an opinion in an 
affair like this. It’s no business for an out- 
sider.” 

“^Outsider’ be damned!” said Trevor, ir- 
ritably. You know you’re one of the family.” 

If you don’t know where to put on the 
screws yourself, I suppose a detective is the 
only alternative,” said Percival, reluctantly. 

Trevor made another of his sudden avowals: 

For all I know. Clip may be getting them 
too.” 

I should think it unlikely, if she hasn’t 
mentioned it,” Percival protested, soothingly. 

She would see me in Halifax before she’d 
mention it,” said Trevor, savagely. “ I believe 
she doesn’t care.” 

Percival discreetly said nothing. 

Has she ever said anything to you about 
it? ” his friend asked, with sudden suspicion. 

240 


MR. TREVOR IN HOT WATER 


Of course not,” said Percival, shortly. 

Before he had an opportunity of seeing Mrs. 
Beverly again Trevor was obliged to meet every 
other member of his household, each of whom 
expressed an irritating surprise at his matu- 
tinal expedition. The beauty was the last to 
appear, very pale and dignified, and to her hus- 
band’s horror she held a letter in her hand. It 
might be quite an innocent missive — Heaven 
forbid that he should learn the contrary from 
indiscreet inquiries — but the sight of it goaded 
him to desperation, and he resolved to alter the 
intolerable situation without delay. No sooner 
was he left alone with Mrs. Beverly than he 
explained his intention to her, and demanded 
such letters as she had received, that he might 
submit them, with his own, to a detective. She 
brought them to him with a dramatic gesture 
which said, See what I have suffered for 
you! ” but she made no suggestions, and seated 
herself at the piano, picking out chords and 
humming to herself. 

Trevor leaned against the piano. I don’t 
see how you stand it,” he said. If I were you, 
I should want to make a bolt of it.” 

There are compensations,” she answered. 

If I’m miserable one moment, I’m happy the 
241 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


next. And oh, I ought to be happy, to pay for 
all the rest!” She turned to him with out- 
stretched hands, but he drew back with a 
spasm of virtue. 

I shouldn’t have brought this on you,” he 
said. “ I thought that if you stayed here with 
Clip there could be no talk, and now ” 

Now she has had enough of me,” she sug- 
gested, and rose from the piano. 

“ Not that, Nelly. I’m sure, she’s always 
nice to you.” 

Oh, yes, she’s nice. But all the same, you 
shouldn’t have offered to see me through with 
this. I see that it is more than you can man- 
age.” 

It isn’t that at all! ” he protested. 

Yes it is! A man doesn’t begin to consider 
a woman’s reputation until he has grown tired 
of her,” she declared, passionately. Oh, you 
knew, you knew, what my life was, and what 
part of it you have been ever since I met you 
there in Washington, and now I am only a 
trouble to you, an anxiety, something to put 
out of the way! ” 

^^My dear Nelly, don’t take it that way!” 
Trevor protested. I was only suggesting that 
it might be more comfortable for you if you 
242 


MR. TREVOR IN HOT WATER 


went home for a while, just until this blows 
over.” 

Home! ” echoed the wretched woman, and 
buried her face in her hands. He had never 
seen her cry like this before. He was fright- 
ened at the violence of her emotion, and stung 
by her taunts. Besides, she loved him! Alas 
for the sterner virtues that this truth is not to 
be denied: we always make allowances for 
those who have the good taste to love us. Un- 
doubtedly he should have insisted then and 
there, for her good and his own, upon her de- 
parture, but he did nothing of the kind. Instead 
he tried to explain, tangled himself into a hope- 
less muddle, and finally left her in possession 
of the field. 

In the hall Miss Fenwick accosted him with 
some severity. She too was crying. I think 
you had better go to Clip.” 

What is the matter now? ” he demanded. 

“ I went into her room and found her lying 
on the fioor,” Effie announced, and at first I 
thought she was dead, and we have been all 
this time bringing her to herself.” 

Trevor found the beauty lying on the sofa 
with her eyes closed. She offered no explana- 
tion of her faintness, though he, in fear and 
243 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


trembling, suggested various possible causes. 
Her maid was running in and out, and Effie 
fussed over her with a fan and salts, but even 
had they been alone together, her pride, and 
his complicated sense of guilt, injury, and in- 
cipient jealousy, would have formed sufficient 
bar to the needed understanding. So they 
drifted a little further apart, and Mrs. Beverly 
remained triumphant. 


244 


CHAPTER XXI 


LAY-OVERS FOR MEDDLERS 

“What’s the matter with old Sid?” Mr. 
Floyd demanded of his aunt, whom he met at a 
wedding. “ I haven’t seen him for a week.” 

“ Sidney is not well,” said Mrs. Percival. 
“ You know how hard it is to find out what ails 
him if he ever is ill, but I waylaid the doctor 
myself, and he told me that the poor boy’s 
nerves were in a dreadful state, and that he 
mustn’t be irritated. I’m sure, I can’t imagine 
what he should have to irritate him, except 
that, of course, he is a little gouty at times, just 
like his poor father, but Doctor Burns says that 
if he doesn’t get away from town he won’t 
answer for the consequences. I asked him this 
morning why he didn’t go to India, or some- 
where, but he says he can’t. I’m sure, he was 
anxious enough to go last spring, before the 
Fenwicks came.” 

“ I’ll go directly home with you and cheer 
245 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


him up a bit/’ Mr. Floyd obligingly volun- 
teered, and proceeded to enliven the invalid’s 
solitude with a week’s news. You’re a hum- 
bug, though,” he said. I thought you must 
be at the point of death, and here you are, up 
and dressed. What were you reading? The 
new Gossip? Let’s see! ” 

They have been taking your name in vain,” 
said Percival, with a false air of regret. Bead 
this paragraph.” 

Mr. Floyd, with a sniff, settled himself to 
the perusal of the item. “We learn that a 
new contribution is about to be made to the 
library of polite literature. Mr. Snobby Lloyd, 
who for a decade has been the most formidable 
rival of Mr. Springheels in the gentle art of 
conducting a cotillion, is now engaged on a 
volume of personal reminiscences, entitled Ten 
Years a Leader. This work is said to contain 
valuable chapters on the correct manner of 
snubbing an upstart, making a young woman 
the fashion, introducing a brand of champagne, 
and giving advice without fear or favor.” 
“Damn their impudence!” the angry gentle- 
man broke forth at this point. “ What are we 
coming to? Me write a book!” he cried, and 
the scorn of his tones is better felt than de- 
246 


LAY-OVERS FOR MEDDLERS 


scribed. Me write a hook? I vow, I’ll have 
the beggars up for libel! ” 

PercivaPs mouth twitched, but his cousin 
was too much perturbed to notice trifles. The 
insolence of these wretches is beyond belief,” 
he went on. Putting me in the same category 
as fellows like Wingfield — a beggar I never 
noticed, by Jove, until Clip took him up last 
summer! But the idea of my writing a book, 
and me despising authors with all my heart! 
It’s no less than blackmail! ” 

“ Speaking of that,” said Percival, I am 
going to ask you to use your influence for me.” 
He rose with considerable reluctance from his 
comfortable seat, went to his secretary, and, 
unlocking a drawer, produced a bundle of let- 
ters. Mr. Floyd’s face was already so red that 
a shade more or less was unnoticeable, but 
some apprehension caused him to fidget in his 
chair, for if he feared any one on earth it was 
his deliberate and mild-mannered cousin. 

Now,” said Percival, approaching him, 
with the suspicion of a limp in his gait, and a 
perfect suavity which Mr. Floyd found a trifle 
appalling, I have had enough of this kind of 
thing. It’s dirty, and it’s dangerous, and I 
shouldn’t be influenced by it if it were to go on 
247 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


from now until doomsday. I propose with the 
help of Heaven to mind my own business, and I 
trust you can induce the ingenious authors of 
these things to do the same.” 

“ You don’t hold me responsible? ” Mr. Floyd 
gasped. 

All I have to say on the subject is that 1 
want no more of them,” Percival replied, and 
consigned the offending missives one by one to 
the flames of the gas-log. 

Mr. Floyd, very much agitated and ex- 
tremely cross, departed in such haste as might 
be, and was seen no more that day. Sad to say, 
however, his alarm proved to be but tempo- 
rary, and was no bar to the furtherance of an 
ingenious scheme which he had long nursed in 
his imagination. 

Percival had religiously kept away from the 
Trevors’ until a great sheaf of Miss Fenwick’s 
bills recalled the conflicting nature of his du- 
ties, and he made a morning call. His ward, 
however, proved to know little about her own 
expenditures, and called in Mrs. Trevor’s as- 
sistance, basely leaving them alone together 
before the accounts were audited. The 
beauty’s manner was so discouragingly busi- 
ness-like that her coadjutor was preparing for 
248 


LAY-OVERS FOR MEDDLERS 


a speedy departure when a message arrived 
from Mrs. Beverly, asking for an immediate 
interview. 

I trust it is nothing more about the Bud- 
dhists,^’ Percival hazarded, or is she a Moham- 
medan at present? ” 

I think you know very well what it is,” 
Mrs. Trevor said in an icy tone. 

“ I’m probably very stupid, but I don’t.” 

She flashed on him suddenly: How could, 

you send her that horrible poster? ” 

Percival waxed indignant in his turn. You 
have a flattering opinion of me,” he said. 

“ What else could I think? ” 

I know I’m in disgrace,” he answered, 
stiffly, “ but I didn’t realize that I had fallen so 
low as that.” 

<< Forgive me! ” said Mrs. Trevor. The tears 
had sprung into her eyes. “ You mustn’t think 
too much of what I say. I have been so un- 
happy! ” 

This confession, the flrst that had fallen 
from her lips during the long months of her 
trial, startled him into an unprecedented blunt- 
ness. “Why don’t you assert yourself?” he 
asked. 

She pressed her handkerchief to her eyes, 
249 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


and did not answer for a moment. It was her 
conscience that finally spoke in her trembling- 
voice. I have no right.’’ 

‘‘ It was my fault, not yours,” he said. His 
own voice sounded strangely to him, and in the 
silence which followed, Mrs. Beverly’s step was 
audible on the stairs. Clip gathered up her 
memoranda and went out without saying good- 
by, and the other woman came in. 

“ Isn’t it a trifle early for comic valen- 
tines?” she demanded, revealing the fateful 
poster to his gaze. You omitted your signa- 
ture, but I recognized your style without it.” 

I’m sorry you think I sent you that thing,” 
he began, rather relieved than otherwise at 
this direct attack, but she had the floor and 
meant to keep it. 

You’re not stupid enough to deny it. Effie 
recognized it at once, and blurted out the whole 
truth before Clip could stop her, but I’ve seen 
your portraits before. I always told you that 
you disliked me, but I hardly expected you to 
furnish me with such a proof.” 

I can’t hope that you will believe me,” said 
Percival, “but upon my honor I don’t know 
who sent it to you, and I’m extremely sorry it 
happened.” 


250 


LAY-OVERS FOR MEDDLERS 


doesn’t make the slightest difference 
whether you’re the originator of the pretty 
trick or only a catspaw,” said Mrs. Beverly; 
“ it’s the sort of thing one can’t be expected to 
forgive. And since I shall naturally deprive 
myself of the pleasure of your society in future, 
I want to ask you one question about a thing 
which has puzzled me from the start. The 
least you can do is to answer it truthfully.” 

‘^Anything to whitewash my character!” 
he assured her. 

Well, then, why, of our partie carree, are 
you the only one who isn’t complaisant? ” 

Percival swallowed some very bad language 
before he ventured to reply. You see,” he 
explained at length, with a fine impersonal air, 
“ your theory is based on a wrong assumption. 
It never was a partie carree. I hadn’t even the 
right to resent the existence of a third person 
until you gave it to me just now.” 

“ You have been a model of forbearance,” 
she assured him. I find that I have under- 
estimated your virtues — with all the rest of 
the world.” 

“ We are all open to mistakes,” said Per- 
cival, politely. Are you sure that this is a 
final settlement of accounts? Because there 
17 251 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


was a little reference to a catspaw that was 
really unworthy of your penetration/’ 

If I had been more your style of woman, I 
should never have had occasion to make it,” 
she retorted, “ but I wasn’t young or pretty 
or, saving your presence, silly, enough to be 
excusable.” 

He stood by the door with his gloves in his 
hand. You decline to accept my apologies, 
then?” he said with an air of great regret. 
‘‘I’m sorry — we were so congenial!” 

“Devil!” she ejaculated, to his retreating 
footsteps, while he was cursing Mr. Floyd. 


252 


CHAPTER XXII 


THE DELUGE 

It was storming violently when Archie’s cab 
finally turned down the avenue, and for the 
third time plowed its way through the deep- 
ening slush to Washington Square. His young 
countenance was haggard, and he trembled 
like a nervous horse. The sleet whipped the 
windows and froze there, and the street lights 
looked faint at the wind-swept corners. If 
Mr. Percival isn’t in now. I’ll wait until he 
comes,” the agitated young man announced at 
the door. 

Mr. Percival, it seemed, had returned, and 
was dressing. Archie, hardly waiting to be 
admitted, precipitated himself into his guard- 
ian’s room, and sank into a chair. I’ve been 
chasing you since morning, from Harlem to the 
Battery,” he said with poignant reproach. 

I’ve been here three times, and nobody knew 
where you were. Have you seen Jim? ” 

No, he hasn’t been here,” said Percival. 

253 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


We must find him! cried Archie. If we 
don’t find him at once it may be too late.” 

PercivaPs heart sank. What is the 
trouble? ” he asked. 

a We’re disgraced for life!” Archie an- 
nounced. ‘‘ You can’t do anything. Nobody 
can do anything. We can never hold up our 
heads again.” 

Percival sat down. You had better tell 
me the whole story,” he said, and Archie fal- 
tered forth his miserable recital of officiousness 
and foolishness, ending with his face hidden on 
his arms. 

And Jim? ” said Percival. 

Jim behaved in the noblest manner,” said 
the loyal Archie. He had done nothing, 
really, and he need not have told, but he said 
he was as much to blame as I was, and that I 
shouldn’t go through it alone, and he owned up 
to Roy.’^ 

“Blackmailing for benevolent motives!” 
sighed his guardian. 

“ I’ve been a blackguard,” Archie cried, 
“ and there’s nothing left for Jim or me but to 
blow our brains out.” 

Percival laid a restraining hand on his 
shoulder. “ You can’t do that, you know,” he 
254 


THE DELUGE 


said. It’s a nasty business, but you’ve got to 
pull out of it somehow. What did Roy say to 
you? ” 

“ I don’t remember. He was frightfully cut 
up,” Archie admitted. Neither of them 
seemed able to understand why we did it.” 

^^Your motives were a trifle difficult to 
fathom,” said Percival, putting on his coat. 

“ She was so unhappy,” Archie burst forth, 
sobbing, “ and I wanted to help her! And now 
— if she could tell Jim that she never wanted 
to see him again, how must she feel about me? ” 

“ She told him that? ” Percival inquired, ap- 
prehensively. 

Yes, and he’s desperate. He has left the 
house. I thought he might have come to you.” 

“ You’re right. We ought to And him,” said 
Percival. Now, as you seem pretty well done 
up, you had better stay here, and keep him if 
he does come. I’ll take your cab. And remem- 
ber that we are going to pull through some- 
how,” he added, moved by a spasm of pity for 
the silly boy, who had been after all more dupe 
than knave. 

He went flrst of all to Mr. Floyd’s spacious 
apartment on Fifth Avenue, which presented a 
festive appearance, with lights streaming from 
255 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


the windows. The lively gentleman had, in 
fact, been entertaining an afternoon bridge 
club, of which he was a member, and the air 
was heavy with the fragrance of cut flowers 
when Percival entered the drawing-room, for 
Bobby, while he preferred to be liberal at an- 
other personas expense, was given to display 
when forced into hospitality. You should 
have come a few minutes earlier, Sid,” he ex- 
claimed. Vre had Mrs. Douglas, and the 
Thornes, and that crowd, and a ripping Fish 
House punch. Nice orchids, eh? Seen the 
Child? Why, no, now I think of it, he was to 
have played, but he didn’t turn up.” 

“ I should advise you to turn out and hunt 
for him,” said Percival. 

Off again, is he? Oh, I can tell you where 
to catch him, but I’ve got to dress now,” said 
Mr. Floyd, hurriedly. Just ring the bell, will 
you? My man is gone. He took to giving me 
advice — advice^ by Jove! — so of course I had to 
ship him. So now I have in this idiot from the 
stables, and — Lord! Who is he bringing in 
now? ” He rushed into the adjoining room and 
slammed the door, leaving Percival to receive 
the newcomer, who sailed through the por- 
tieres with much clinking of jet beads, and 
256 


THE DELUGE 


a strong waft of heliotrope — a handsome 
woman, opulent of figure, still young under her 
dotted veil, pausing in her advance with a little 
gesture of recognition to exclaim, Mr. Per- 
cival! 

His heart sank still lower, as he said, I was 
just thinking of you, Mrs. Belden.’’ 

‘‘ For the first time in some years,” she 
added. No, don’t go. I believe we are here 
on the same errand. Where is Bobby? ” She 
looked curiously around the apartment as she 
spoke. “ No, he doesn’t expect me, but I have 
something to say to him, and I don’t care how 
many people hear me say it. I’m not going to 
have you or any one else think that I betrayed 
those poor boys, or that I’ll let them bear the 
blame alone, as he wants to do. I hate a 
sneak! ” 

The bedroom door opened cautiously, and 
Mr. Floyd emerged, at once agitated and indig- 
nant. This is a pretty piece of business! ” he 
cried. I’ve got a reputation to lose, and you’ll 
compromise me before you get through. Why 
on earth didn’t you send for me, if you had to 
see me? ” 

Send for you, indeed! ” she echoed, scorn- 
fully. I wanted to see you. Mr. Trevor’s de- 
257 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


tectives have been watching me, and now 
Archie tells me that that little cat of a Fanny 
whom I took into my house out of pity has con- 
fessed the whole business.’’ 

Who — the typewriter girl? Good Heav- 
ens, you don’t say so!” Mr. Floyd ejaculated, 
turning very pale. 

Of course, she knew nothing about you 
and Jim,’^ Mrs. Belden continued, but she told 
the detective that she saw Archie post the let- 
ters, and that I dictated them to her. So / get 
the credit of composing them, and Jim has 
confessed, when all he knew was that there 
was something in the wind, and you go scot- 
free!” 

Why couldn’t he have held his tongue, 
then, little fool? ” Mr. Floyd demanded. 

“ Because he’s a dear good boy, and won’t 
desert his friends,” she retorted. 

Well, I don’t see why you felt obliged to 
come here bothering me. Lord, what a shock 
you gave me!” he said in an injured tone. 

Bursting in on me, and giving people a wrong 
impression of me! ” 

Mrs. Belden pulled up her sleeve, and re- 
vealed to Percival a bracelet sparkling on her 
wrist. Does Bobby give diamonds for noth- 
258 


THE DELUGE 


ing? ” she demanded, scornfully. And yet he 
doesn’t see why I come to him now. Didn’t you 
promise me,” she cried, turning on him fiercely, 
that I should have no trouble about it, and 
that if there was any fuss you would take the 
blame? And now you think I’m going to let you 
break your word.” 

Why did you employ a woman you couldn’t 
trust, then? ” he demanded in his turn. 

Who, Fanny? Hadn’t I every reason to 
look for gratitude from her? Didn’t I find her 
sick and starving on a bench in the Park, and 
take her right into my house, with nothing to 
do but exercise my dogs? Her own sister 
couldn’t have treated her better, and now she 
talks about her conscience troubling her. Con- 
science, indeed! It will trouble her still more 
to-morrow, when she’s getting her breakfast in 
a soup-kitchen, the thankless wretch! ” 
i All this has nothing to do with me,” said 
Mr. Floyd, with an attempt at his grand man- 
ner, but laying hold of Percival’s coat-sleeve as 
he tried to escape. 

Ah, but it will have, if I choose to speak! ” 
she replied. “ And if Jim has to suffer, I don’t 
see why you shouldn’t keep him company.” 

Mr. Floyd fairly wrung his hands. Now, 
259 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Sidney, will you listen to this?’’ he entreated. 

And I’m due at Mrs. Winchester’s at eight.” 

You won’t be due there again, if I have my 
way,” said Mrs. Belden. The idea of getting 
little boys into a scrape like this, and then 
turning your back on them! It’s all his fault, 
Mr. Percival, and don’t believe him when he 
denies it.” 

What do you want? I’m a ruined man,” 
Mr. Floyd protested, but I suppose you’re 
bound to finish the job. As to having a row 
with anybody, though, I won’t, and that ends it. 
I’ve got to dress. I’ll leave you with Mr. Per- 
cival here. You can make your terms with 
him.” He rushed once more into his own room, 
and there was a sound of a key turning in the 
lock. 

There’s a man for you!” said Mrs. Bel- 
den. 

Yes, but he’s my cousin, I regret to say,” 
Percival replied, and there is no sense in mak- 
ing the affair any worse than it is. I myself 
should have preferred your letters if they had 
been signed, but I’m willing to overlook all that 
for the sake of peace.” 

I told him they wouldn’t do any good,” she 
said, but he knew better than anybody else. 

260 


THE DELUGE 


When I think of those poor boys, I could kill 
him!’’ 

“ I have some regard for them myself,” said 
Percival, “ and I am sure you want to help them 
as much as possible. Now how can we atone 
for the inconvenience to which you have been 
put?” 

The thing I want most is to know where 
that boy is,” she declared. Why hasn’t he 
been to me? If his own people turn against 
him, at least he ought to know that there is 
one place where he is always welcome.” 

There is another — my house — and if mat- 
ters are to be patched up, as I hope they may 
be, you must see for yourself that it is the best 
place for him,” said Percival. Send him to 
me if you should see him before I do, and you 
will place me under a lasting obligation.” 

I will. I’ll do anything for a friend. That’s 
my nature,” she explained. “ That is how 
Bobby imposed on me so.” She grew pathetic 
over her wrongs, and emotional at Jim’s plight, 
but her voice took a different tone when the 
conversation touched on business. 

Mr. Floyd was already attired when Per- 
cival entered as the bearer of his visitor’s ul- 
timatum, and groaned painfully as he drew a 
261 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


check to Bearer.” You’ll have to help me 
out, Sid. I may not have that much in the 
bank,” he said. Oh, she’s a terrible woman! ” 
You’ll kindly give me a chance to leave 
first,” said Percival, and under the circum- 
stances his cousin had no choice but to accede 
to his request. Mr. Floyd’s parting interview 
with the lady was brief, and though it com- 
menced on her part in a spirit of restored 
amity, she descended the stairs a few moments 
later with two checks in her pocket-book and 
wrath in her heart, while he fortified his shaken 
nerves with brandy before facing his fellows 
at dinner. 


262 


CHAPTEE XXIII 


MRS. TREVOR SPEAKS 

As the fruitless quest for the fugitive con- 
tinued, the question of what was to become of 
him when found weighed less upon the mind of 
his most active pursuer than the haunting fear 
that his vagaries would no more perplex his 
friends and family, and that a pistol-shot had 
proved the solution of his mundane future. 
After twenty-four hours of suspense, with 
nerves on the alert for bad tidings, Percival 
received a fresh incentive, in the shape of a 
despairing note from the beauty. “ It makes 
no difference now what he has done,’’ she wrote 
in conclusion; only bring him safely back to 
me!” And now, turning away from Mrs. Bel- 
den’s deserted house, a keener apprehension 
than ever tormented him. Had she gone away 
to escape further consequences of her impru- 
dence (which she must know could not be 
brought home to her, under the circum- 
263 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


stances), or did her absence foreshadow an- 
other disaster? 

In the waning afternoon of the third day of 
Jim’s absence, Trevor, unable longer to endure 
his own society, mounted the stairs to the nurs- 
ery. Solitude had become more dreadful to all 
the household than the constrained companion- 
ship which was its alternative, and as he seated 
himself in a corner he saw, by the half light 
which came from the hall, that his wife was 
lying on the sofa, with the baby half asleep 
beside her, and that Effie, at the window, was 
gazing into the street below, where the lamps 
already flickered upon the carriages splashing 
through the slush. 

Has Archie come in? ” Trevor asked. 

He is going to stay at the Percivals’ to- 
night,” said Efiie. Alarmed by the results of 
the beauty’s harshness, she had consented to a 
reconciliation with her own brother, and vis- 
ited him in Washington Square, where he still 
hid his disgrace. That afternoon, too, Mrs. 
Townshend, moved by indignation, had de- 
parted from her usual caution, and opened her 
heart to the young person as never before. 

The woman has no delicacy — no decency! ” 
she had exclaimed. “ How can she stay here 
264 


MRS. TREVOR SPEAKS 


after what has happened? And yet, when I 
asked her to come home with me for a few days 
(purely from a sense of duty, I can assure you), 
she flatly refused.’^ 

I hate her! ’’ Miss Fenwick declared then, 
with her small hands clinched. And this hatred 
still swelled in her heart as she stood in the 
window, wondering at Clip^s patience, and 
scorning it. A hundred instances recurred to 
her mind where forbearance had ceased to be a 
virtue, and justice clamored for a speedy awak- 
ening of that force which slumbered beneath 
an external weakness. Did it truly exist, the 
spirit which was said to animate Mrs. Trevor? 
Did she no longer love her husband, or was her 
love so slavish that she would endure this and 
everything? “ If it were mi/ house! ’’ Miss Fen- 
wick reflected, and those who assert that violet 
eyes are incapable of flashing should have seen 
the lightenings which hers launched upon a 
recalcitrant world. In another moment the 
fires were quenched. A brougham had stopped 
before the house, and she recognized PercivaPs 
liveries. Two people alighted and came up the 
steps. There was something in the bearing of 
the two figures that told even Efi&e, no keen 
observer, that some calamity was imminent, 
265 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


and the same presentiment kept her silent. 
She crossed the room and knelt beside the 
sofa, taking the beauty’s disengaged hand in 
hers. The baby stirred and whimpered sleep- 
ily. Poor little man, it is his bedtime,” 
said Mrs. Trevor. “ Effie, will you ring for 
Jane? ” 

Let me take him to her,” said Efifte, and 
going through the hall, met Percival at the 
head of the stairs. For once he had no eyes for 
his godson. Jim followed him, hurrying in 
silence past Effie, and into the nursery. At his 
approach his sister rose and ran toward him 
with outstretched arms. Her husband, too, 
sprang to his feet. 

O Jim!” she cried. ‘‘Oh, my dear, how 
could you think I meant it? ” 

He disengaged himself from her embrace. 
“ I’ve done it this time,” he said. “ I’m mar- 
ried.” 

For a moment no one spoke. The light from 
the hall illuminated a little patch of wall-paper 
on which the story of the Sleeping Beauty was 
pictured, woven in with vines and trellises, and 
presently threw Percival’s shadow over the fig- 
ures as he entered the room, with a confirma- 
tion of Jim’s news written on his face. Mrs. 

266 


MRS. TREVOR SPEAKS 

Trevor appealed to him: Sidney, it can’t be 
true! ” 

Trevor came toward the table, knocking 
over a pyramid of blocks, which fell with a 
crash to the floor. “ That woman, of course? ” 
he said. 

Jim gave a ghastly little laugh. If he had 
not realized the enormity of his act before, it 
came home to him now, in the presence of his 
family. He, James Lee Trevor, twenty years 
old, with his manhood before him, and his over- 
weening pride to reproach him, doomed to 
share his name with a woman whose history 
was public property — a finger-post for the 
town! Was any one more alive to the shame of 
it than he? As for the others, he had dragged 
their pride through the dust, but it was Ms life, 
not theirs, that he had wrecked. 

“When did it happen?” Trevor demanded. 

“ Night before last,” said Jim, stung to de- 
fiance by his tone. “ What’s the use of talking 
about it? You said you’d done with me.” 

“ Oh, it’s my fault! ” the beauty moaned. 

“ No, don’t say that. You understand now 
that I only wanted to help you,” he protested, 
“ and that’s all I ask. I wouldn’t have come 
here again but for that.” 

‘ 18 267 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Sidney, perhaps you will explain,” Trevor 
began, but interrupted himself to listen to the 
voices in the hall outside — Effie’s expostulat- 
ing, Mrs. Beverly^s high and incisive. Surely 
any one should hesitate to intrude at such a 
time as this. It was with a spasm of disgust 
that he saw her darken the doorway, and this 
feeling Jim voiced as she entered. 

Ah, Mrs. Beverly! You still here? ” 

“ To condole with your unhappy family,” 
she answered. 

DonT! DonT! ” Trevor protested, hastily. 

I^m sorry you happened to come in, Nelly. 

These beastly family rows ” 

“ I beg your pardon. Mr. Percival and I are 
de tropy^ said Mrs. Beverly, or perhaps he 
isn’t.” 

Oh, stay if you like,” said Trevor, irri- 
tably, since you find it agreeable.” 

An inarticulate sound escaped the beauty’s 
lips, and Percival, seeing her sway, stepped to 
her side. Trevor was about to follow when a 
little significant laugh from Mrs. Beverly 
checked him. She doesn’t want you!’’ she 
said. Her voice was veiled, but it carried far 
enough to spur Mrs. Trevor’s will into mastery 
of her physical weakness. She swept across 
268 


MRS. TREVOR SPEAKS 


the room, stately in the half light, suddenly 
dominating the scene. Her hand was on the 
bell. Trevor, watching her with apprehensive 
fascination, noticed that it was the call to the 
stables. 

“You’re not going out at this hour?” he 
said. 

She turned and faced him directly. Her 
voice, though she did not raise it, had an edge 
that he had never heard before. “ I have 
ordered my carriage,” she said. “ Either this 
woman or I will leave the house to-night. You 
must choose between us.” 

To Effie, sobbing in the hall with her fingers 
to her ears, to Jim who had forfeited the right 
to stand at his sister’s side, and to the other 
woman who awaited the issue, the decision 
seemed to turn upon a hair. All hope and fear 
trembled in the balance, but only for a moment. 
When Trevor crossed to his wife’s side, her 
rival knew that the end had come for her, and 
of all the wretched people in the room she was 
perhaps the most to be pitied. This was no 
temporary eclipse of her sun, but night, inevi- 
table and unending. She had known the truth 
before she thrust herself into the whirlwind. 
Even her own folly had hastened the parting 
269 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


only by an hour or two. So without a word 
she left for the last time the man whom, law- 
fully or unlawfully, she had loved to her own 
undoing, while the victor in this shameful con- 
test waited only for her disappearance to lose 
unobtrusively all consciousness of her bitter 
success. 


270 


CHAPTER XXIV 


FUTILITY 

“ It’s beastly mean in you! ” Mr. Floyd ex- 
claimed, indignantly. He was walking up the 
avenue at a tremendous pace, swinging his 
heavy silver-handled cane, and his breath 
clouded the frosty air. What’s the use of 
being connected with people if you know less 
about their affairs than any confounded out- 
sider, by Jove? Now I know there’s been a 
double-barreled row at the Trevors’, and Bev- 
erly’s got the sack, and you were there and 
saw it all, and I’m your own cousin, and you 
won’t tell me a damned thing! ” 

When you look at it impartially, why 
should I?” Percival inquired, with an exas- 
perating pretense of opening an argument. 

“ It’s always just my luck that you should 
be the one to be on hand when anything hap- 
pens. Lord! I wouldn’t be as infernally close- 
mouthed as you are for a million dollars.” 

271 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


“ It’s not always an inconvenience to you,” 
his cousin observed, dryly. 

‘‘ Well, those were exceptional circum- 
stances, and however appearances may be 
against me,” Mr. Floyd averred, “ you know I 
never get into women-scrapes, thank Heaven! 
Well, do laugh, then! You were hot enough in 
the collar about it at the time, all the same. Is 
Clip very sick? ” 

“ Haven’t you been there to inquire? It 
might be civil.” 

I was afraid it might be a little awkward,” 
Mr. Floyd explained, but I’ll go with you this 
afternoon if you say so. This is Spriggy’s last 
Thursday, and I’ve promised to look in. Are 
you coming? You’re generally remiss about 
those things.” 

Mrs. Townshend was receiving in a violet 
gown, and gave them a fatigued but cordial 
welcome. “ Stay until this crowd goes. Bobby, 
you will find an affinity in the tea-room. — Yes, 
Mrs. Trevor is still confined to her room. She 
has had too much responsibility, and it’s some- 
thing to launch a debutante, I can assure you. 
She always keeps up until the last gasp. Oh, 
yes, we hope it is nothing serious. She has 
been ill like this before. — I wonder how many 
272 


FUTILITY 


times I have said that to-day? ” she specu- 
lated, turning once more to Percival, as her 
other interlocutor departed. I hope I may 
be forgiven for the lies I tell. Only three 
women left, thank goodness, and they are 
talking about us and wonT go for half an hour. 
Yes, I will have some tea, with lots of arrack 
in it, for Pm tired to death, and heartsick be- 
sides. When I came back from seeing Clip 
yesterday I said to Percy: ^ Whatever you may 
do, never dare to let me find you out! ’ ” 

“ Is she really worse? ” Percival asked. 

Yes. It was two weeks ago yesterday that 
the wretched creature left, and every day Clip 
seems to grow weaker. If ever a woman had 
just cause for nervous prostration. Clip Trevor 
had.” 

It must have been very trying,” Percival 
remarked. 

Trying! That is all you men know about 
it!” Mrs. Townshend exclaimed. Though I 
will do Percy the justice to say that he was 
terribly shocked from the first, and it was all I 
could do to keep him from interfering. But I 
talked to Clip — oh dear, how I talked to her! — 
and implored her to take a stand, and she was 
quite stiff, even with me, and wouldnT hear a 
273 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


word against that good-for-nothing husband of 
hers. I don’t care if he is my cousin, I’ve al- 
ways said he wasn’t half good enough for her. 
And then this business of Jim’s is enough to 
break one’s heart. Oh, what a place this world 
is! I can’t sleep at night for worrying about 
my poor children, growing up to all sorts of 
heartbreaks and miseries. And there’s another 
thing, too. In confidence, what do you think of 
Bobby? ” 

There’s no use in wasting your breath on 
him,” said Percival. “ I used to think that 
there was some good in him. Well, blood is 
thicker than water, and since the world at 
large doesn’t know what a hound he is. I’ll hold 
my tongue and give him another chance, but 
the sight of him makes me sick.” 

I knew it was his doing,” said Mrs. Towns- 
hend. I feel as though we had all been 
dragged through the gutter. But I sha’n’t tell 
Percy.” 

After all, perhaps it is an injustice to 
judge him from the ordinary human stand- 
point,” said Percival, refiectively. Bobby 
isn’t a man. He’s a thingJ’ 

“And things, I suppose, must be white- 
washed when they happen to belong to us? ” 

274 


FUTILITY 


It seems the only way/’ he agreed, arrang- 
ing the cushions behind her as she sipped her 
tea. The divan on which she sat was pushed 
against a partition of Moorish fretwork, 
through which floated two purring, middle- 
aged voices. A footman paused before them 
with punch and sandwiches, and while Percival 
stood, glass in hand, the voices crystallized into 
words, to burn the ears of the involuntary 
eavesdroppers. 

Do you think it will end in a divorce, or 
only a separation?” one inquired. She 
doesn’t believe in divorce, you know.” 

Ah, but it’s different when it comes nearer 
home. You’ll see that she is anxious enough to 
secure one for Jim,” said the other. And if 
she were free, every one knows that Sidney 
Percival would marry her to-morrow.” 

Mrs. Townshend, who had commenced a des- 
perate fusillade of chatter, continued it after 
the footman had moved away, but Percival dis- 
regarded her kindly pretense of deafness. 

Does everybody talk like that?” he burst 
forth in a white fury. 

They are just a pair of malicious old tab- 
bies. I will have this wretched lattice-work 
taken away to-morrow,” said Mrs. Townshend. 

275 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


You can’t stop their tongues,” said Per- 
cival. 

You’re not going to be angry with me? 
Then, if you must go, would you mind stopping 
at the Trevors’ and telephoning me how Clip 
really is, for Roy is so unsatisfactory! ” 

I ought to keep away, it seems,” he grum- 
bled. 

Nonsense!” said Mrs. Townshend, suc- 
cinctly. “ Remember, I’m anxious to hear be- 
fore dinner.” 

Percival found his friend at home and eager 
to see him. You know, we start for Aiken on 
Monday, if Clip is able to travel,” Trevor an- 
nounced, “ and I suppose the Fenwicks will 
have to go to you. Effie wants to come with us, 
but you must talk her out of the idea, for Clip 
must not be bothered with her. I don’t know 
how she is to stand the journey as it is, but the 
Doctor says she must have immediate change 
of scene, or he won’t answer for the conse- 
quences.” 

I had no idea it was so serious,” said Per- 
cival. 

Oh, it’s serious enough. She keeps send- 
ing for Spriggy, and when she comes, she begs 
her not to let her talk. I don’t know what she’s 
276 


FUTILITY 


afraid of saying. I wish Spriggy could go with 
her. She doesn^t want me.” 

Sick people have all sorts of fancies,” said 
Percival. It won’t last.” 

You don’t know her as I do,” said Trevor, 
bitterly. I tell you, it’s in the blood. She’ll 
never forgive me.” 

“Nonsense!” said Percival, vehemently. 
“ You’re all broken up now, and everything 
looks black to you. You need a change your- 
self, and when you once get settled and away 
from the worries here, all the good things will 
come back together.” 

Trevor looked mournfully skeptical. “ Have 
you had that talk with Jim yet? ” he inquired. 

“ Good heavens, I’m not an exhorter! ” the 
luckless Percival protested. 

“ Well, I’m too irritable, I tell you frankly. 
I should only row him, and he never listens to 
me anyhow. And somebody must put things 
plainly to him.” 

“ Yes, I suppose so,” Percival agreed. 
“ Don’t worry about it. You’ve enough on your 
mind as it is. Well, good night, old man. I 
hope you’ll both feel better in the morning.” 

He walked home — a matter of two miles, 
which afforded him a singularly unfortunate 
277 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


opportunity for reflection. There are occasions 
when even unwelcome society is wholesomer 
than an introspective solitude, especially for a 
gentleman whose nerves have already under- 
gone a somewhat protracted strain. For a few 
blocks he kept his mind off more serious mat- 
ters by a vigorous and impartial condemnation 
of screens and old women. He cursed Bobby 
with all his heart and soul. Hot waves of 
shame and disgust swept over him at the man- 
ner in which long forbearance had been re- 
quited, and family pride, of which he had held 
himself guiltless, asserted its claims in the face 
of the outrage to which it had been subjected. 
But not even this goad, keen as it was, could 
long distract his thoughts from the real issue. 
Of course there would be no divorce. Boy was 
a good fellow, and it must all come right in the 
end. But if she were free ! 

She was not to blame if people talked. If 
universal sympathy were withheld from her in 
the hour of her trial, if she were credited with 
motives of which all the world should have 
known her guiltless, the fault was his, and his 
alone. The memory of his one overt offense 
against her was a constant reproach to him, 
quickened by the bad news he had heard of her 
278 


FUTILITY 


condition. How would it end? How could he 
wish it to end? He was tired, skeptical, old — 
yet not too tired to have his friends^ burdens 
thrust upon him, not too cynical to treasure 
his ideals, not so old but that the blood coursed 
quicker in his veins at the sound of one wom- 
an's voice and the world seemed empty at the 
prospect of her departure. She had never cared 
for him. God forbid that she ever should! and 
still it was his hand that had added the last 
drop to the bitterness of her cup. And the 
night was coming fast. Curtail it as he might, 
there still remained those black hours to be 
endured, with dead follies mocking, sins long 
past thrusting at him out of the dark, regret 
ever living, and the heaviness of years to come. 
His very self-respect galled him. In the sun- 
light the bugbears of the night dwindled to in- 
significance, but in the silent hours they loomed 
up huge and hideous, until he saw himself 
forced to choose between chloral or a padded 
cell. Why shouldn’t I drug myself? ” he de- 
manded impatiently of what he was beginning 
to regard as a false pride. “ Why can’t I at 
least manage to get drunk? Perhaps on the 
whole a drunkard would be as efficacious a 
guardian as a maniac.” While there was some- 
279 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


thing to urge in favor of this argument, it failed 
to altogether convince him of its soundness, 
especially when he remembered that an added 
responsibility was on its way to Washington 
Square. 


280 


CHAPTER XXV 


IN WHICH MISS FENWICK BECOMES ENGAGED 

Miss Fenwick, her dog, her triple mirror, 
her bottles and porcelain boxes, her skeleton 
frames and boot-trees, and all the hitherto un- 
accustomed luxuries without which she would 
now have found existence insupportable, had 
been domiciled for several days in Washington 
Square, and radically altered the atmosphere 
of the house. Now, of a morning, a young lady 
in a bewildering matinde descended to the 
breakfast-room to preside over the coffee-pot 
and skim the society column. At luncheon the 
same young person, in street dress, would gos- 
sip in an animated manner with Mrs. Percival 
and squabble with Archie. Late in the after- 
noon she was often to be found seated in the 
china-room, at the tea-table, rather pensive, 
inwardly complacent over the artistic folds of 
her wonderfully concocted tea-gown. In the 
evening, being a young person of many engage- 
281 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


ments, she would appear radiant in satin or 
chiffon, invariably pausing in the drawing- 
room to afford Percival an opportunity of ad- 
miring her attire in case he was not to accom- 
pany her. On Sundays she walked to church 
carrying her prayer-books with devout ostenta- 
tion, and escorted by a body-guard of youths. 
Sometimes Percival was pleased by her pres- 
ence, sometimes he found her a nuisance. It 
was certainly an agreeable novelty to have a 
bright face opposite him at the breakfast-table. 
It was curious to observe the sudden invasion 
of youths, and the small coquetries of Miss Fen- 
wick as she entertained them by the becoming 
light of a dozen wax candles in crystal lusters. 
Her flowers, her notes and cotillion favors 
pervaded the house. Silhouette occupied the 
cushions hitherto sacred to the Angoras, and 
was taken for a daily promenade, decked out in 
ribbons and silver chains. Percival was initi- 
ated into the trials which beset the path of a 
maiden a la mode — the extortions and treach- 
eries of modistes and milliners, the spiteful 
speeches of envious friends, the stringencies 
of grandaunts, and the shocking difficulty of 
making one^s accounts balance properly. This 
last feat, indeed, she never accomplished, and 
282 


MISS FENWICK ENGAGED 


brought her little book to him with injured 
tears, that he might decipher from her mysteri- 
ous hieroglyphics the approximate amount of 
her expenditures. He listened to hints of Tom 
Lawrence’s absurd prejudice against poor 
Harry Wingfield, who was eager to paint her 
portrait for the Spring Academy, now that he 
had finished Mrs. Trevor’s; he heard what com- 
pliments everybody had paid her, and was con- 
sulted in various small matters of external 
adornment. His opinion was solicited as to her 
progress in horsemanship, for the invidious re- 
marks of her friends had finally caused her to 
conquer her fears and disport herself in the 
saddle. He was growing to look forward to 
these little confidences by which all that she 
did and felt was laid open before him, for she 
was a very transparent and artless young per- 
son still, in spite of her airs and graces, and 
could no more have reserved her little affairs 
for privacy than she could have convinced her 
guardian that she was not empty-headed. 

She was sitting in her favorite place one 
afternoon after her last visitor had departed, 
with all the wax candles lighted for Percival’s 
benefit. He had declined tea, but he leaned 
back in his chair tasting the pleasures of pro- 
19 283 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


crastination. In the drawing-room his mother 
was still entertaining visitors; their voices 
sounded indistinctly through the portieres. 

I have seen your aunt to-day,” he said to 

Effie. 

“ Dear me! I suppose she has sent me a lot 
of horrid advice,” said the young lady with 
dismay in her tones. 

No, I was the recipient on this occasion,” 
said Percival. I’m afraid of her. An abso- 
lutely faultless person is a rare and appalling 
sight. I’m sorry to detect signs of amusement 
on your face. Miss Fenwick. I trust you don’t 
think me guilty of the presumption of ridicul- 
ing your venerable aunt.” 

Well, you are,” said Effie. “ Besides, Aunt 
Katherine is not perfect, by any means. She 
has her faults, like other people.” 

Indeed she hasn’t,” he declared. Where 
other people have besetting sins, she has be- 
setting virtues. I wish she played the races or 
took chloral. I should feel far easier in her 
presence.” 

“No, but really, what did she say?” Effie 
inquired. 

“ I don’t feel myself fitted to repeat her 
words,” said Percival, modestly, “ but I will 
284 


MISS FENWICK ENGAGED 


venture to state that she said to me exactly 
what she said to you on the occasion of your 
last visit. A good thing will bear repetition, 
you know.^’ 

Then she told you what she thought of 
you,” said Effie with apprehensive delight. 

“ Yes, and of the Trevors, and the Towns- 
hends, and my mother and Bobby. She wore 
her hair in scallops, which I have observed is 
always a sign of an extra coat of virtue. As 
she looked at me I felt all my hidden faults 
springing to the surface like drowned people 
when you fire a cannon.” 

Doesn’t she make you feel as if there were 
a hole here? ” Efifie inquired, feelingly, pressing 
the frills of lace over her heart. 

No, but her grandniece does,” said Per- 
cival. 

Now you’re talking nonsense. What did 
she say about me, especially? ” asked Effie, 
playing with the teaspoons. 

“ She asked me how you passed your time, 
and whether your mind was utterly given up to 
empty frivolities. Then she inquired about 
your associates, and trusted I hadn’t noted any- 
thing unbecoming or forward in your behavior. 
She added that she didn’t consider me a fit per- 
285 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


son to be entrusted with the guardianship of a 
young girl, and there she had me.” 

“ Well, what did you tell her? ” EflSe in- 
quired, anxiously. 

I assured her that you were a model of 
deportment, much interested in church work, 
and quite set upon eschewing the frivolities of 
this world,” said Percival. You see, I had to 
make my assertions in the dark, so I said what 
I thought would propitiate her. I told her that, 
far from taking pattern by my unregenerate 
ways, I could see that every day you grew to 
resemble her more and more, and so you do, 
you know. When you glare at me as you’re 
doing now, you’re uncommonly like her on a 
small scale.” 

“ Now, Sidney Percival, you are simply 
teasing me,” said Effie, hotly. “ You know you 
told her nothing of the sort. And besides, you 
ought to know what I’m like by this time. 
You’ve certainly seen enough of me.” 

“ And how much do I know about you? ” he 
demanded. Perhaps if she had presented me 
with a little schedule, I might have filled it out 
to your satisfaction, as: ‘ Nose, straight; eyes, 
dark blue; taste in dress, ravishing; temper, 
needs a firm hand and a light rein.’ ” 

286 


MISS FENWICK ENGAGED 


Oh dear! ’’ said Miss Fenwick, wrathfully, 
you are the most provoking man! 

“ You will feel still more strongly on the 
subject when I tell you that your aunt desires 
to see you on Saturday afternoon without fail,” 
he observed. 

Didn^t you tell her that your mother and 
I were going to a matinde with Mr. Lawrence? ” 

I wasn^t aware of it.” 

VYe told you at least twice,” said the 
young lady, with an unmistakable pout. Now 
I shall have to go there and explain. How 
tiresome!” 

She doesn’t approve of Lawrence, by the 
way.” 

He is quite the nicest man in our set,” 
Effie declared. “ I thank my stars that I’m not 
under Aunt Katherine’s thumb. I’d rather 
have even you for a guardian.” 

Thank you,” said Percival, fervently. 

He met her the following day on the Avenue 
above Fourteenth Street, taking her dog for an 
airing, and started to accompany her home, 
but Silhouette seemed more pleased at his ad- 
vent than his mistress. She greeted him with 
chilly airiness, supposed he had been to Mrs. 
Townshend’s that morning, and apologized for 
287 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


not being as entertaining as a married woman. 
If the truth must be told, Miss Fenwick was 
piqued at the small effect which her fascina- 
tions seemed to produce upon her guardian. 
He was nothing to her; still, when a man has 
once — in fact, twice — offered his hand to a 
young lady, a certain amount of devotion on 
his part might be regarded as consistent and 
natural, and Percival, though attentive enough 
in company, was certainly anything but lover- 
like in private. How different was the behavior 
of Lawrence and Mr. Wingfield! They appre- 
ciated her, if Percival did not. This man was 
spoiled, but she proposed to show him that she 
was neither a doll nor a child. So she was very 
distant with him, until a lamentable accident 
occurred which changed her airiness to alarm, 
and caused her to turn for succor to her nearest 
protector. The aristocratic Silhouette became 
enraged at the remarks of a spotted mongrel 
in the tail of a dray, and in his efforts to reach 
the offender succeeded in slipping his collar, 
and plunging through the black, slimy mud, 
amid the dangers of the Fourteenth Street 
crossing, in pursuit of the impertinent ple- 
beian. 

Miss Fenwick called in vain. He paid no 
288 


MISS FENWICK ENGAGED 


heed to her entreaties, nor to PercivaPs com- 
mands, and with his tail proudly curving he 
disappeared among cross-town cars, wagons, 
and carriages. He will be killed! ’’ wailed his 
mistress. Sidney, can’t you get him?” 

Percival had already started in pursuit, 
amid the defiant yelps of the spotted dog and 
the derisive cheers of two newsboys. A police- 
man made ineffectual clutches at the elusive 
little beast, and passers stopped to see the 
sport. When, after several vain efforts to res- 
cue the inconsiderate atom from his peril, Per- 
cival at length succeeded in dragging him forth 
from the threatening hoofs and wheels, his tem- 
per had suffered almost as much as his attire, 
and he strode to the pavement holding Sil- 
houette by the scruff of the neck, and hailed a 
passing cab. “ Don’t try to embrace him yet,” 
he said. “ You will only cover yourself with 
mud. I’ll take him home and have him washed.” 

Miss Fenwick was vexed both at his tone 
and his proposition. “ As if I minded the dear 
pet’s being a little dirty!” she cried. ^^Come 
here, my precious, and let me put your collar 
on. You don’t want to go home in a nasty cab, 
do you? ” 

Who is to fish him out of the next puddle, 
289 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


pray? ” Percival inquired, extending his hand 
for the collar and leash. I suppose you will 
prefer to walk, but since I couldn’t well be 
dirtier, there’s no objection to his coming with 
me.” 

As he slammed the cab door Miss Fenwick 
was filled with a fine scorn for a man of his age 
who could show temper over such a trifle. 
When she reached home Silhouette was al- 
ready in the tub, and his preserver was nowhere 
to be seen. At luncheon, however, he re- 
appeared, immaculate and peacefully disposed. 
Silhouette pranced up to him with the utmost 
cordiality, but Effie was on her dignity. I’m 
sorry to have troubled you,” she remarked, loft- 
ily. It wasn’t at all necessary.” 

“ Do you know. Miss Fenwick, that this is 
the second time I have had the honor of wading 
through the mire to restore your possessions? ” 
he inquired with malice prepense. 

“ Goodness! ” said Effie, flushing hotly. I 
didn’t think you knew that I was the same per- 
son.” 

You haven’t changed so as to be unrecog- 
nizable,” he assured her. 

“ I thought I had improved,” she remarked, 
defiantly. 


290 


MISS FENWICK ENGAGED 


“ Your manners were rather better then, 
were they not? ” he asked. I believe on that 
occasion you said ‘ Thank you.’ ” 

I meant to thank you to-day. I beg your 
pardon. I wish I had given a street boy a quar- 
ter for doing it for me,” she said with increas- 
ing hauteur. 

For thanking me? How truly kind! ” said 
Percival. 

For getting Silhouette, of course!” said 
Effie, now almost dissolved in tears. 

At tea time Mr. Lawrence was announced — 
as usual. Percival was allowed to enter unob- 
served, and had dressed and descended to the 
library before a rustle of skirts apprised him 
of his ward’s approach. She entered look- 
ing conscious and expectant. I suppose I 
ought to tell you,” she said, that I’m en- 
gaged.” 

^‘Keally!” said Percival, with an interest 
which somehow failed to please her. Well, 
I’m not as much surprised as I ought to be. I 
suppose I may ask the name of the happy 
man?” 

It’s Tom,” said Effie. 

“ I congratulate you with all my heart,” said 
Percival with a cordiality which she found de- 
291 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


testable. “ I^ve known him for fifteen years, 
and there isn’t a better fellow going. I’m 
sure he will make you happy.” He was shak- 
ing hands with her. Didn’t he care at all? 
Was he positively glad that she was going 
to marry another man? It would certainly 
seem so. 

“ You are the first to know. I sha’n’t even 
tell your mother until I have written to Clip,” 
she went on. I hope she will like it as well as 
you do.” 

This suggestion chilled Percival’s enthusi- 
asm. It suddenly occurred to him that Mrs. 
Trevor would not like it as well as he did. He 
had lost sight of her objections to Lawrence; 
now they rose before him in alarming array, 
and the fact that he could not share them 
would, as he was well aware, prove no barrier 
to her strictures on his carelessness. 

‘‘You think she won’t like it?” Effie de- 
manded. 

“ It is hard to please everybody,” he said, 
evasively. 

“ But you think it’s all right? You’re sure 
you’re not provoked because I didn’t ask your 
opinion first? ” she persisted, hopefully. 

“ Absolutely sure,” he declared, and dinner 
292 


MISS FENWICK ENGAGED 


being at that moment announced, offered her 
his arm with an amount of frank approval and 
good feeling that was maddening to a young 
person who had looked for a very different re- 
ception of her intelligence. 


293 


CHAPTER XXVI 


SHOWS HOW DIFFICULT IS YOUTH 

Miss Fenwick sat alone in the china-room, 
munching candied violets and studying a fash- 
ion paper, for this evening she had no engage- 
ment. Mrs. Percival was lying down with a 
headache, Lawrence was at a stag dinner, and 
time hung heavily on her hands. She surveyed 
a page of unnaturally willowy brides and 
bridesmaids with an impatient sigh, and bright- 
ened perceptibly when she heard PercivaPs 
step approaching. 

“ What am I to say to people who ask me 
pointblank if you are not engaged? ” he de- 
manded. 

I know it was your Aunt Augusta,” Effie 
exclaimed. 

“ Your unerring instinct has divined it. She 
said Mrs. Foster had told her that she heard it 
reported on all sides, but that you had not seen 
fit to notify her. I temporized basely with Aunt 
Augusta, but it^s awkward about your aunt, 
you know. She^s likely to send for me at any 
294 


HOW DIFFICULT IS YOUTH 


moment and demand the truth, and I’m blessed 
if I know what to tell her.” 

How can I tell any one until I’ve heard 
from Clip? ” Effie asked. 

How odd that she hasn’t written to you.” 

No, it isn’t odd,” Miss Fenwick confessed, 
“ because I haven’t told her yet.” 

Percival looked at her in astonishment. 

Well, I’m sure, you acted as though you 
thought she wouldn’t be pleased,” she ex- 
plained, guiltily, and they all say she mustn’t 
be excited or worried. So I thought — I would 
wait.” 

Then you’ll deny it for the present? ” 

Oh, dear! I hate to say what isn’t true,” 
she wailed, on the horns of a dilemma. 

Don’t you think you had better see your 
aunt? ” 

I saw her only two weeks ago, that time 
she sent for me, you know.” 

She waited until he had reached the door 
once more before she admitted, Perhaps I had 
better go. Can’t you take me to see Aunt Kath- 
erine this evening and get it over with? ” 

“ I should be delighted,” said Percival, but 
unfortunately I have asked some old friends 
from the South to join me at Daly’s, and as 
295 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


they will be here only a few days it is quite 
impossible to put them off.’^ 

“ I never saw any one with so many South- 
ern friends as you have,” said Miss Fenwick, 
disparagingly, always turning up when it 
occasionally happens that I depend on you to 
take me somewhere.” 

I^m awfully sorry,” said Percival. Some 
other time ” 

I have no other time. To-morrow there is 
Harry Wingfield^s Studio Tea, and I won^t have 
red eyes for that.” 

It was at Wingfield’s gorgeous studio that 
they next met, amid a babel of voices and a 
crowd of curious friends intent on seeing Mrs. 
Trevor’s portrait, which stood in the place of 
honor, awaiting criticism. Under a huge Chi- 
nese umbrella stood the inevitable tea-table, 
tended by Miss Brent and Miss Fenwick, who 
paid each other compliments and furtively 
watched the door. When Percival finally 
reached their corner no one could have been 
more suddenly confidential than Effie. She 
even managed to outgeneral Miss Brent, and 
cause herself to be carried off to look at the 
portrait with him. Isn’t it lovely? ” she cried. 

I wonder if he will do half as well for me? ” 
296 


HOW DIFFICULT IS YOUTH 


Aren’t you rather extravagant? ” 

Oh, he wants to give it to me. By the way, 
I didn’t go to see Aunt Katherine this morn- 
ing.” 

Didn’t you? ” 

She looked at him intently for a moment, 
with an impatient, distressed expression on her 
pretty face. She was wearing the little brace- 
let which had been his Christmas gift to her, 
and this she twisted and turned on her rounded 
wrist. Why don’t you malce me go?” she 
burst out with a sudden passion. 

But he declined to be serious. Make 
you?” he repeated. ^^You will do as you 
please. Miss Fenwick. I have no authority over 
you.” 

“ You are my guardian,” she persisted. 

“ I am your very humble servant,” he cor- 
rected. 

Here comes Tom. Take me back to the 
table,” said Effie. “ He won’t pretend a lot of 
things that aren’t so — and besides, Mrs. Towns- 
hend wants you.” 

The next morning she went to call upon her 
aunt. 

The visit was a brief one, for Mrs. Foster 
plunged without preliminaries into the vital 
297 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


subject, and Effie, whose little airs and graces 
invariably collapsed at sight of her grim rela- 
tive, could only protest that nobody had been 
told, and that when you hadn^t announced it, 
it couldn^t be considered an engagement. 

“ I say nothing of the scandals which his 
name must recall to every one,^’ said Mrs. Fos- 
ter in appalling tones. “ It may be our Chris- 
tian duty to forget that he is a nephew of the 
notorious Mrs. Graves. I could not expect you 
to be influenced by the fact that he leads an 
utterly frivolous and aimless existence — but 
that a Fenwick should marry a man who at any 
moment is likely to become a maniac, is a blow 
for which I own I was unprepared.” 

Had Effie been in the enjoyment of her usual 
force of conviction, this speech would merely 
have called forth a burst of indignation. As it 
was, it deepened those forebodings which had 
secretly tormented her for days past, and she 
could only protest faintly that Tom was no 
more likely to lose his wits than she was. In 
spite of herself her aunt’s words had presented 
her lover to her in a new aspect. 

Am I to conclude that Mrs. Trevor ap- 
proves of this connection? ” was the next in- 
quiry. 


298 


HOW DIFFICULT IS YOUTH 


“ I don^t know/’ Effie faltered. “ Mr. Per- 
cival approves of it, but I don’t feel sure about 
Clip.” 

I propose writing to her myself, and learn- 
ing her opinion of this young man,” Mrs. Foster 
announced. 

“ Oh, you mustn’t do that. She is sick, and 
ought not to be worried. It will only make her 
worse,” Effie said in alarm. I wdll put off my 
engagement. I’ll do anything, if you only won’t 
write to her.” 

You may tell this young man,” said Mrs. 
Foster, ‘Hhat he must consider your consent 
annulled for the present. If, on Mrs. Trevor’s 
return, you still persist in your infatuation, you 
may send him to me, as you should have done 
in the first place. I am amazed that Mr. Per- 
cival should allow you to think he approved. 
It must be one of your silly ideas. He strikes 
me as a man of excellent judgment, and how he 
can tolerate such a match I am unable to con- 
jecture. However, it is just as I expected. It 
would be a relief to all of them to get you off 
their hands.” 

Effie had reached the door by this time, but 
at her aunt’s parting shot her courage re- 
asserted itself, and she blazed upon the good 
20 2 99 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


lady. Yes, I know we are a burden to them 
all. I know they must wish that they were rid 
of us. That is why I was glad that somebody 
really wanted me. But they have never let us 
know in any way what a nuisance we have been 
to them. They have always treated us as 
though we belonged to them. It was you who 
made me feel like an intruder, and it^s your 
fault that I said yes to Tom.’^ 

When Percival returned late that afternoon 
he found Efifie waiting for him, and was forced 
to listen as attentively as a severe headache 
would permit to the latest developments in her 
affair. When she had announced Mrs. Foster^s 
ultimatum she requested him to break the news 
to Lawrence, as she felt herself unequal to the 
task. He heard her to the end with exemplary 
patience, but did not at once accede to her 
requirements. 

“ It will be only asking him to do what it 
would have been more prudent to do in the first 
place,” he reassured her. 

“ No, it won’t. I feel that if I say anything 
at all, it’s the end,” she declared with convic- 
tion which nothing could shake. “ And I know 
that Clip won’t like it either.” 

Don’t make a bugbear of Clip. She would 
300 


HOW DIFFICULT IS YOUTH 


be the first to realize that this is your own 
affair and that you have a right to decide for 
yourself.” 

Then you think I ought not to break it 
off?” 

Of course, if you feel it would be final ” 

“ I know it would.” 

“ Then if you really care enough for him to 
risk quarreling with your aunt, you won^t 
break with him.” 

She suddenly came over to him and laid her 
hand on his forehead. Your head aches, 
doesn^t it?” she asked in sympathetic tones, 
“ and I’m such a selfish pig, I never noticed 
that you looked badly until now.” She fussed 
over him, despite his protestations, insisting on 
his lying down, plumping the cushions, wetting 
her handkerchief in cologne and giving him 
skilful and refreshing little pats with it. It 
was all great nonsense, but the little offices be- 
came her, and it occurred to him that Law- 
rence would have a very good time of it after 
all. She had drawn a chair close to the sofa, 
and continued her operations as she asked. 
Does it hurt you to talk? ” 

Not at all,” he answered, mendaciously. 

301 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Well, then, where were we? You see, I 
must decide about this.’^ 

It ought not to take you long,^’ said Per- 
cival. Do you love him, or don^t you? ” 

Oh, I — I don’t know,” said Effie. Your 
hair all curls up where it’s wet. Did you know 
it?” 

You told me some time ago that you would 
never marry a man unless you loved him with 
all your heart,” said Percival. Now, really, I 
should think you would know if that were the 
case.” 

“ You don’t know what girls have to do, and 
the things they have to bear,” said Effie, 
damply. I wish you could know, just for one 
minute.” She sat staring at her cologne bottle 
for a moment, then announced with a little 
gasp, No, I suppose I donH love him.” 

“ Then why did you accept the poor devil? ” 
Percival asked, severely. “ I’m afraid you’re a 
heartless flirt. Miss Fenwick.” 

Men don’t understand those things,” said 
Effie, miserably. What ought I to do? Should 
I write him a note? Everybody knows I write 
a dreadful note, and when I’m excited I spell 
half my words wrong, and you’ll have to tell me 
what to say.” 


302 


HOW DIFFICULT IS YOUTH 


“You’re sure you won’t regret it?” said 
Percival. “ You’re sure you don’t care for 
him? ” 

Effie choked down a sob. “ Yes,” she said, 
“ I’m perfectly sure that I don’t love him — nor 
anybody else — and never did, and never shall! ” 
With this declaration she rose and ran out of 
the room. 


303 


CHAPTEK XXVII 


SOMETHING BREAKS 

Lawrence, the ill-treated, had been lunch- 
ing with Mrs. Townshend, and was still pouring 
his griefs into her sympathetic ear when Perci- 
val was announced. He had not taken his dis- 
missal philosophically, nor did he scruple to ex- 
press his opinion of PercivaPs conduct in the 
matter, which no amount of expostulation on 
his hostess’s part could induce him to regard 
as pardonable. You may make what excuses 
you choose,” he maintained with conviction, 
but it was an underhand way of acting, and 
if he hadn’t approved, he should have said so 
at once, and to me, instead of making her play 
fast and loose with me as he did. I’ve been 
fond of Sidney for fifteen years, but I see I 
never knew him before. It’s a trick I wouldn’t 
play on a mere acquaintance, to say nothing of 
a friend of years’ standing.” 

304 


SOMETHING BREAKS 


So pointedly did he exhibit his feelings on 
Percivars entrance that a cloud of embarrass- 
ment settled upon the company which his de- 
parture could hardly dispel. 

“ I wouldnT have sent for you to-day if I had 
remembered that I had promised to listen to 
his tale of woe,” said Mrs. Townshend. ‘‘ You 
will soon have a perfect horror of my house.” 

“ It is natural enough that he should con- 
sider it my fault,” said Percival, ruefully, and 
I suppose I was to blame in the first place for 
acting on my own responsibility, but upon my 
word, I was never trained to chaperon a girl, 
and my experience is costing me dear. There’s 
nobody I like better than Tom, and he thinks 
me a cad.” 

He will get over it,” said the consoling 
Spriggy. 

“ No, he won’t. And we shall both come and 
whine to you,” said Percival. ‘‘But you told 
me to come.” 

“ Yes, I must have you for the Coal and 
Kerosene Club. You won’t have to say a word,” 
she assured him; “it’s only Gibson pictures, 
and all we ask of you is to be yourself.” 

“ Who is going to pay two dollars to see me 
be myself? ” 


305 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


If I had not seen you for a long time, I 
might pay as much as four,” she said. 

But Percival was proof against blandish- 
ments. You promised me,” he said, reproach- 
fully, that if I would be a Huguenot Lover, 
^ just this once,’ you would never require any- 
thing in the Thespian line of me again.” 

“ That was before I had grown unscrupu- 
lous in an official capacity. Now I will commit 
any desperate deed to turn an honest penny,” 
she confessed. Besides, I have been teaching 
a wriggling, whining, tale-telling sewing-class 
all the morning, so beware how you cross me.” 

“ Is that your Lenten penance? ” 

I do it all winter. Just now I am visiting 
tenement houses as well, which is even more 
discouraging. It is dreadful to discover how 
many people are undeserving.” 

‘^You needn’t go to the slums for that. 
Charity begins at home,” said Percival. 

Mrs. Townshend glanced first at him, and 
then at her bric-h-brac. “ If you think it would 
cheer you,” she suggested, you may smash 
anything in this room except my new Tiffany 
glass.” 

“ Do I look destructive? ” 

“ Well, I have always noticed that when a 
30G 


SOMETHING BREAKS 


man is depressed, the most reviving thing he 
can do is to break something — always provided 
he hasn’t a wife to scold.” 

“ Fie, Spriggy! Would I scold any woman 
who had consented to make me happy? ” 

That sounds very fine, but it’s quite cer- 
tain you wouldn’t make her happy, at the rate 
you are going on,” said Mrs. Townshend with 
decision. 

Well, I always told you so.” 

But it wasn’t always true. When your 
hand shakes like that, I should be . blind if I 
believed that things were as they should be 
with you.” 

Of course, I’m not very well,” he admitted. 

I ought to have got out of this treadmill a 
year ago. It naturally gets on your nerves to 
act as nursery governess when you haven’t 
been trained to the business.” 

There is something more than that,” she 
said with conviction. 

“ I find it truly edifying to be a private 
mission class of one,” said Percival. 

“ How long is it since you have slept? ” she 
demanded, accusingly. 

Oh, I don’t know.” 

« Why don’t you do something for it? ” 

307 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


“ I have tried various things,” said Percival. 

You don’t seem to like the result.” 

I don’t blame you, really. I should go mad 
if I had insomnia,” she suddenly admitted. 

No, you wouldn’t. You would plan a cou- 
ple of working-girls’ clubs and a woman’s hotel, 
and design your summer frocks,” said Percival. 

Yes, I think I should. Why don’t you 
plan nice things to do for people? ” 

“ Because I’m burdened enough with my un- 
earned increment without that. It’s such a 
curse to me that I am beginning to believe it 
must be the same to everybody else. And the 
worst of it is, I’ve no right to shirk it.” 

Somebody told Percy that they had struck 
oil on some land of yours. It was in the yellow 
papers, with a dreadful black picture of you,” 
said Mrs. Townshend, and another picture of 
the man who sold you the land, sitting on a bed 
in a garret, as though you were distinctly to 
blame for it.” 

“ Yes, they have been calling me a plutocrat 
again. Several kind friends sent me marked 
copies. Now that man,” said Percival, reminis- 
cently, simply haunted my office until I finally 
took his land to get rid of him. He had been 
trying to get the thing syndicated as a coal- 
308 


SOMETHING BREAKS 


mine, but the outlook seemed hopeless, and he 
frankly told me that he must have the money 
to square the congressman of his district who 
was opposing some other scheme he had in 
view. Of course I should not have encouraged 
bribery and corruption, but I gave him his 
price, and now if the poor devil had kept his 
oil-fields he might in time have achieved the 
distinction of being called a grinder of the 
poor.’’ 

When will the poor ever show as much 
charity to the rich as the rich show to the 
poor? ” Mrs. Townshend demanded. “ We are 
so hounded, so misrepresented, so harshly 
judged! — and the forbearance sometimes 
seems to me to be all on one side. We are 
harder with each other than we are with them. 
When my servants rob me, I don’t send for the 
police. I try to remember their temptations, 
and I talk to them and give them another 
chance, but who remembers our temptations? 
I know I have an inclination to send Bobby and 
the boys to Coventry for a thing that morally 
isn’t half as mischievous as the article in that 
wretched paper, for which nobody can be pun- 
ished.” 

I never wanted the cursed money,” said 
Percival. I never cared for more than enough 
309 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


to take the ugliness out of life. I’ve tried be- 
ing poor, and I didn’t like it, but I swear the 
days didn’t dawn on me as heavily as they do 
now.” 

“ I used to feel that way about mine some- 
times before I was married, though it was only 
a pittance in comparison to yours,” said Mrs. 
Townshend, but it is only because you have 
the responsibility to bear alone that it seems so 
heavy.” 

“ Then it is likely to be no lighter,” said 
Percival, very foolishly, although he knew that 
such a statement of his convictions always in- 
cited his cousin to an eloquence for the endur- 
ance of which he lacked his usual patience. 

I suppose you are conceited enough in 
many respects,” she began, but in one way 
I honestly wish you had a better opinion of 
yourself. Because one girl happened to care 
for another man, you persist in believing that 
no woman would love you for yourself, and 
that all they see in you is your money. No 
doubt there are a few mercenary little 
wretches like that Porter girl, who regard you 
solely as a name and a fortune, but you ought 
to know that the majority of us are capable of 
appreciating what is really good in you, and 
310 


SOMETHING BREAKS 


even liking some things that are not so good. 
However much you may hate it, you shouldnT 
allow yourself to be haunted by a dollar-mark. 
I myself knew a nice girl once who would have 
been only too glad to marry you without a 
penny.” 

‘‘Why didnT I know it?” he asked. “I 
should have been very grateful for a good 
woman^s love.” 

“ Women donT want gratitude — and you 
didnT care to know. She recovered from it. 
It wasn’t easy,” said Mrs. Townshend, “but 
perhaps it didn’t make a worse woman of her, 
on the whole. Other things came into her life, 
and she took them as they came, and loved 
them, and in time she forgot sufficiently to be 
considered very happy by her intimate friends. 
And this nice little tale has a moral, if you 
choose to apply it to your own case.” 

“ Spriggy, I can’t!” said Percival. “God 
knows, I wish I could, but it’s impossible.” 

“ It isn’t generally so hard for a man to for- 
get! ” poor Mrs. Townshend reflected. She had 
certainly not expected that her well-meant re- 
marks would add to his depression, but when 
had such a discourse ever the desired effect? 
He had always shown himself docile with the 
311 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


women of his family, knowing the impolicy as 
well as the futility of anger, but resentment 
may smolder in the most long-suffering per- 
son, and it was with an exasperating flippancy 
that he responded to the remainder of her con- 
versation, nor would he consent to accompany 
her on her drive in the Park. She realized that 
his state was precarious, and in this knowledge 
she had played her last card and played in 
vain. She was sorry for him; she had done 
what she could, but she could not forbear a lit- 
tle impatience at his refusal to avow any ade- 
quate reason for his very impossible frame of 
mind. She was better aware than any one that, 
had the late Mr. Townshend tied up his prop- 
erty, Percival would have found a certain joy 
in defying his restrictions, but unfortunately 
he had left the fulfllment of his charges to the 
honor and discretion of a man who was capable 
of being hampered by both. Of course he was 
scrupulously conscientious in his attention to 
affairs which he abhorred, and of course he 
was obstinate in clinging to the ghost of an 
unrequited attachment, but why should things 
be worse with him now than they had been 
at any time during the past four years? 

When Percival returned to Washington 
312 


SOMETHING BREAKS 

Square he was still angry, with Spriggy, with 
himself, and with fate — the blind, unreasoning 
anger of a slow-tempered man who has been 
driven too far. By the waning daylight he 
seated himself in the china-room to look over 
the mail that had accumulated in his absence, 
but his head ached so that the words were 
simply blurs on the paper. He had grown to 
hate the sight of letters, but having fallen into 
the habit of thinking that whatever was dis- 
tasteful must necessarily be right, he went 
through the pile with more system than under- 
standing. The tea-table was deserted, to his 
relief. Much as he dreaded solitude, he dreaded 
still more the thought of seeing Efifte just then. 
Why could not Spriggy have let him alone? 
Why had she felt it necessary to tell him that 
story? Would there ever be anything in his 
heart again but a hopeless disgust and revolt 
at all the petty miseries of his daily life? — the 
setting of an example in whose efficacy he dis- 
believed, the renunciation of many dear and 
worthless habits, the grind of hated routine, 
above all the enforced association with those 
whom he earnestly desired to avoid. What had 
he to show for it all, and of what avail were 
the most honest efforts to forget, when all the 
313 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


while the terrible ungovernable longing for an 
absent woman whom he had no right to love 
tormented him day and night? It had been a 
good love at first, a love of which no one need 
have been ashamed. Why had the knowledge 
of her unhappiness, the possibility of her free- 
dom, so changed and brutalized it? He hardly 
noticed Effie’s entrance until the rustle of her 
dress swept by him, and the faint fragrance 
from a knot of violets at her breast. She went 
to the fire, and stood with her elbow on the low 
mantel and one foot on the fender. He could 
see that she was all in black, and that she had 
been crying. Something in her dress, her atti- 
tude, the gleam of the firelight on her hair and 
the w^aft of her violets, seemed for an instant 
to bring Clip into his very presence, but the 
illusion passed as she spoke. 

It is so cold! ” she said with a little shiver, 
holding out her hands to the blaze. As he did 
not answer she peered forward into his face. 

What is the matter? she asked. 

I beg your pardon,^’ he said. “ I didn^t 
realize that you were speaking.’^ 

I’ve been thinking about poor Tom,” she 
went on. “ He was always so nice, and I have 
been a wicked wretch. But what else could I 
314 


SOMETHING BREAKS 


do? ” She bowed her head and hid her face on 
her arms. Evidently she expected to be com- 
forted. He was suddenly filled with an angry 
intolerance of her grievances, and even of her 
presence. Whatever she might have been be- 
fore, to-day she was an intruder. What right 
had she to come to him with her silly troubles, 
expecting comfort when he had none of his 
own? From instinct he tried to say something 
properly sympathetic, but the words died on 
his lips. At length she raised her head and 
looked at him, half defiantly, half appealingly. 
Never before had she brought her sorrows to 
him in vain, but now he seemed to have for- 
gotten her presence. The silence, broken only 
by the ticking of the clock, weighed heavily 
upon her. Standing on the shelf at her elbow 
was a tiny cup, bearing the Sevres mark, with 
garlands and medallions of cupids and shep- 
herdesses. She played with this nervously, 
glancing down at him from time to time. 
Finally she could endure no more. “ Sidney,” 
she said, with a note of alarm in her voice, 
what is it? Won^t you tell me? ” 

This question, for the second time in one 
day, proved too much for his self-control. He 
rose abruptly, so startling her that she dropped 
21 315 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


the cup, which crashed into fragments on the 
hearth. She cried out in distress, Oh, I’m so 
sorry! ” 

It’s of no consequence,” said Percival, 
mechanically. 

But you were fond of it. I will try to have 
it mended,” she protested, stooping over the 
fragments. 

“ Don’t do that. I have been trying to pick 
up the pieces all my life, and it’s of no use,^’ 
said Percival. Better let them lie.” 

But Efifie remained on her knees before the 
grate. She seemed suddenly to have developed 
a sixth sense with regard to him — his moods, 
his thoughts, his perils. In that moment she 
was a woman, with a woman’s aching heart. 
“ Don’t go away when you feel like this,” she 
entreated. “ I won’t trouble you any more. 
No one shall trouble you. Only don’t go.” 

‘‘Don’t waste your sympathies on me, Effie,” 
he said. “ I’m not worth it. And don’t try to 
keep me here any longer. I must go, and go 
my own way.” 

“ Where? ” she asked, almost fiercely. 

He laughed a little as he went toward the 
door. “ Pardon my frankness — to the devil, I 
think,” he said, and left her to her own devices. 

316 


CHAPTER XXVIII 


SUNDAY AFTERNOON 

Well, here we all are again! ’’ exclaimed 
Mr. Floyd, who, having despatched a peace- 
offering in the shape of a basket of cut flowers, 
now felt himself quite safe in paying his re- 
spects to the Trevors. Every one save Mr. 
Floyd had been invited to Sunday luncheon, 
and he had dropped in. Jim, to be sure, was 
not there, but the Fenwicks, who had moved 
their belongings once more, the Townshends 
and Percival, had assembled to celebrate the 
return of the absentees. This seems like old 
times,” the sprightly gentleman declared. He 
was beaming, eager, determined to make the 
best of a bad business and brazen his way back 
to favor again. 

Mrs. Townshend had been relating her phil- 
anthropic trials to a sympathetic audience, 
ending with a most cruel instance of misplaced 
charity. “ On Ash Wednesday night Percy was 
walking from the elevated station, and he saw 
317 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


a poorly dressed man walking along the street 
in front of him. Suddenly the man appeared to 
catch sight of something in the gutter. He 
rushed to it and picked it up, and began to de- 
vour it ravenously, and Percy saw that it was 
a dirty old crust of bread. Well, of course he 
was dreadfully harrowed, weren’t you, Percy? 

— and he spoke to the man ” 

“ He told me a most pitiful tale,” her hus- 
band interpolated, and said he had been 
starving for days.” 

So of course Percy brought him home, and 
I was harrowed too,” Mrs. Townshend pro- 
ceeded, and cook gave him a good dinner, and 
we gave him some money, and positively ran 
our legs off looking for respectable employ- 
ment for him, and the man seemed very grate- 
ful ” 

“ He was French,” Townshend interposed. 

' “ Well, the very next evening we were go- 
ing down to see Aunt Louise, and whom should 
we see but this same man again? And what do 
you think he was doing? He took a crust of 
bread out of his pocket, and placed it carefully 
in the gutter and walked on. Then he came 
back, and when he saw us coming, he made a 
rush for it, and began to gnaw it again as 
318 


SUNDAY AFTERNOON 


though he were famishing. And Percy and I 
were so indignant that we spoke to him and 
told him what we thought of him.’’ 

He pretended to understand no English,” 
Townshend concluded, and my feelings were 
so aroused that my French was unequal to the 
occasion, but I reported him at once to the 
Board of Corrections and Charities.” 

“ That reminds me,” said Mr. Floyd, that 
as I was passing your house the other day, 
Sidney, I saw a common-looking man hanging 
about the entrance, and when he noticed that 
I was looking at him, he sneaked away into the 
Park and sat down on a bench. I didn’t like 
the looks of it. It’s the fashion nowadays for 
cranks to shadow people of any prominence, 
and you remember your stables. If I were 
you, I’d engage a plain-clothes man to see 
that I didn’t get assassinated one of these 
days.” 

“ It was probably that unfortunate fellow 
Gessner,” said Percival. 

“ Oh, the man who sold you the oil-fields? ” 
Mrs. Townshend asked. 

“ Yes, he is in very hard luck. His congress- 
man evidently pocketed his bribe, and contin- 
ued to oppose his bill, and he is crazier than 
319 


FOUR-IN-HA]^D 


ever. He annoyed mother so much by coming 
to the house that I was obliged to give orders 
that he was not to be admitted/^ said Percival, 
and since then he has taken to sitting on the 
door-step. He says I can send him to Congress 
if I choose, and he seems to think I^m under 
some obligation to do so.’^ 

You ought to have him arrested,’^ Mr. 
Floyd declared. 

“ I doubt his being crazier than some who 
are already making our laws for us,” said Per- 
cival, and I’m awfully sorry for him, but I 
begin to realize how Haman felt about Morde- 
cai.” 

I hope you haven’t given him money,” said 
Percy Townshend, severely. “ As Americans it 
is our duty to discourage this wholesale brib- 
ery.” 

“ My conceptions of my civic duties are be- 
coming more exalted every day,” said Percival, 
as they rose from the table, and more hamper- 
ing to a normal line of conduct. What luck did 
you have with your kodak. Clip? ” 

“ You are the only person who has not seen 
my pictures, so you shall have a private view,” 
she answered, and spread them out on a little 
card-table for his benefit. You haven’t as 
320 


SUNDAY AFTERNOON 


much news for us as Bobby has, so I must do 
the talking.” 

Nothing happens while you are away,” he 
assured her in self-defense. 

Such a compliment!” she exclaimed, and 
made him a little mocking bow across the table. 

You continue to exist, I suppose?” 

“ Well, Miss Fenwick has been taking me to 
dances, and Spriggy has dragged me to ba- 
zaars. I have cultivated the aunt, and I think 
that is all, except writing to you.” 

“ Your letters were nice and amusing,” she 
commented, but just a little unsatisfactory. 
You hardly said a word about Effie.” 

“ Now I leave it to your sense of justice 
whether my letters didn’t read something like 
this: ^ To-night I am going with Miss Fenwick 
to the opera. Yesterday I met her at two teas 
and a wedding. To-morrow Spriggy gives a 
dinner before the assembly, and of course Miss 
Fenwick will be of the party.’ ” 

But you didn’t write: ' Effie grows pret- 
tier every day. She is like sunshine in the 
house. I don’t know how we ever existed with- 
out her, and we really can’t give her up when 
you come home.’ ” 

We do miss her,” said Percival, '' but of 
321 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


course she was anxious to get back to you. 
The important part of my communications 
seems to have escaped you. I have made prog- 
ress with the aunt. She positively unbends to 
me, and last week she consulted me about her 
investments.” 

And for all my pains I never succeeded in 
thawing her!” said Mrs. Trevor. What a 
diplomatist you would make! ” 

Yes, I am one of those perverted geniuses 
fitted to adorn every profession but the one I 
was obliged to adopt,” said Percival. 

I prefer you in your present profession,” 
she said. 

What is that, if you please? ” 

“ ^ As always yours, Sidney Townshend 
Percival,’ ” she quoted, laughing. 

He laughed too. He was absurdly glad to 
see her again, and to hear her mocking little 
compliments. Mrs. Townshend left the sofa 
where she had been talking to Trevor, and 
rested her arms on the back of the beauty’s 
chair. She was glad to see the evident improve- 
ment in Percival’s spirits, and yet it hurt her a 
little that her own well-meant efforts to amuse 
him had ended in signal failure, while her 
cousin’s mere indifferent presence had evoked 
322 


SUNDAY AFTERNOON 


that better mood of which she knew him capa- 
ble. 

Isn’t it delightful to have everything just 
as it was before? ” Effie sighed, blissfully. Mrs. 
Townshend routed out a hymn-book from the 
music-rack, and seating herself before the long- 
closed piano commenced to play Lead, Kindly 
Light,” in which everybody joined. Even Mr. 
Floyd sang, loudly and out of tune, and was 
heard to remark that it reminded him of the 
old days at Fortmounthouse, before anybody 
got married, and everything was spoiled. Effie 
felt very virtuous as she sang out of the same 
hymnal with Percival. Trevor needed no book, 
being able to rattle off hymns by the dozen, 
owing to an excellent early training, and his 
unalterable conviction that he was a pillar of 
the church. Mrs. Townshend inwardly consid- 
ered this a private thanksgiving service, and 
sang with fervor, but the beauty slipped away 
before the end of the singing, and sought her 
own room, in the certainty that she was a 
wicked woman, and that however it might and 
must appear to the rest of the intimate circle, 
nothing could ever be the same to her again. 
She could not feel toward Roy as she had felt 
before their estrangement. His inconstancy 
323 


FOUR-IN-HAND 

had finally changed her love to toleration. She 
had been patient and forbearing, but perhaps 
in the gentlest of women there is a lack of that 
charity which truly pardons. This was terri- 
ble, but there was something more terrible still, 
which had come as a revelation at sight of 
PercivaPs face on her arrival. She had been 
glad to see him before, but never like this. She 
hid her face in her hands for very shame, realiz- 
ing for the first time the peril in which she had 
stood for years. This was her punishment for 
ceasing to love her husband — this awful terror 
and shame and grief. How could she foretell, 
when she felt herself contaminated by Mrs. 
Beverly’s presence, that soon in her own heart 
she was to find the same sin? How could she 
see him day after day, as she had done once in 
the security of her pride and ignorance, w^hen 
she had grown so glad at his coming, so sorry 
at his departure, so full of thoughts concern- 
ing him to whom she had hitherto accorded 
only a casual place in her life? He had 
smoothed her path in a hundred ways, had 
shielded her from countless annoyances; he had 
been to her a tower of strength whose shelter 
and comfort she had never appreciated until 
she had left them. Her latest absence had 
324 


SUNDAY AFTERNOON 


opened her eyes to many things where she had 
once been blind. And she might have been 
his wife to-day, if she had only known! The 
poor young creature knelt by her bedside, say- 
ing little incoherent snatches of prayer in her 
horror at the blackness of her own heart, and 
when, at the close of the singing, she returned 
to her guests, she was thankful for the twi- 
light that mercifully hid the traces of her tears. 


325 


CHAPTER XXIX 


FALSE DAWN 

I WAS sorry to wake you, dear,^’ said Mrs. 
Percival, as her son appeared, rudely recalled 
from a hardly won slumber, but Bobby is 
on the sofa in the library, and he says he has 
come here to die. He thought at first he would 
die at Spriggy’s, but he found they had gone to 
Atlantic City, so he crawled back into his cab 
and came here, and I don’t know what to do 
with him.” 

Why couldn’t he have chosen some other 
night? ” Percival grumbled. 

Would you mind telephoning for Roy? 
Bobby says he must have all his friends about 
him, and Simmons is so vexed with him for 
waking you that he is of no use whatever,” 
his mother pursued, as he followed her into the 
library. It was two o’clock, a windy night in 
early April, and on a couch, propped up with 
pillows, Mr. Floyd was gasping and groaning. 
Even Percival, to whom these periodic attacks 
326 


FALSE DAWN 


were familiar, was struck by the sudden hag- 
gardness of his cousin’s full face, and his livid 
hue, and summoned the doctor and Trevor, 
Though it is great nonsense getting Roy out 
of his bed when you will probably be all right 
by the time he gets here,” he observed to the 
sufferer on his return. 

‘‘ I’m sorry to trouble you,” Mr. Floyd 
gasped pitifully, but I was so lonely! It’s 
well enough to live in bachelor apartments, 
but it’s another matter to die in them. Besides, 
I’m not afraid, but there are things on my mind. 
And I want you to give Spriggy my pink pearl 
and my Vixen pup, and tell her she’s the only 
woman I ever loved.” 

“ If he would only have a hot-water bottle! ” 
Mrs. Percival wailed. The disapproving Sim- 
mons promptly presented one, but the sufferer 
waved it away, and proceeded faintly, with in- 
tervals of unconsciousness, to give his parting 
instructions. 

‘‘ You’ll look after my horses,” he said, “ and 
tell mother I forgive her for not being here to 
say good-by to me. And I’m sorry about that 
letter business, but I’m glad I sent her the 
poster. Anyhow, I meant it for their own good. 
And, Sid, I know you’re down on me, and I hate 
327 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


like the devil to apologize, but I wish you^d say 
that we part good friends.” 

The little man’s suffering and contrition 
appeared so acute that PercivaPs heart invol- 
untarily softened toward him, as did Trevor’s, 
who arrived before the doctor. Together they 
soothed Mr. Floyd, noted his testamentary dis- 
positions, and administered such relief as they 
might before the appearance of medical aid. 
Toward morning his condition improved, and 
the doctor departed, pronouncing him out of 
danger for the present, but with exhortations 
as to future caution, and, having put the in- 
valid to bed, the two old friends by tacit agree- 
ment repaired to the library to smoke a parting 
cigar. For a while they sat in congenial silence, 
drawn closer together by their night’s experi- 
ence. Do you remember,” said Trevor finally, 
the old rooms in Holworthy, and how we three 
used to talk all night, and see the daylight in 
together? Poor old Bobby! ” 

“ He has had a close call,” said Percival. 
He used to be a good sort, fifteen years ago.” 

Yes, that’s the devil of it. Old friends are 
old friends, no matter what they do.” He 
watched the rings of smoke fading above his 
head, and sighed. I’m glad he told me the 


FALSE DAWN 


truth about Jim at last. It puts a different 
face on things.^’ 

‘‘ His case comes up to-morrow, I suppose, 
said Percival. 

I hadn’t asked any questions. He has 
told Clip, I suppose. Has any one seen the 
woman? Will she oppose it? ” 

“ Fortunately for Jim, she had no legal right 
to remarry in this State,” said Percival. She 
has agreed not to appear. I don’t anticipate 
any difficulty.” 

“ After all, it is very easy,” said Trevor, 
half to himself, and better than feeling that a 
woman hates to be tied to you.” 

Percival received this observation incredu- 
lously. He had come to consider the Trevors’ 
chances of ultimate happiness as good as most 
people’s. They were young and attractive, and 
Koy, if not remorseful for what he had done, at 
least appeared sorry for what had happened. 
It was inconceivable that he should go to the 
length of offering Clip her freedom, or that she 
should avail herself of his mistaken impulse. 
So the hour of mutual warmth and expansion 
ticked away, and they parted chilled and wist- 
ful of past enthusiasms, while Mr. Floyd, for- 
given and convalescent, awoke to a new day. 

329 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


When Jim Trevor issued from his private 
hearing free to commit such further matri- 
monial indiscretions as his lively fancy should 
dictate, Percy Townsend, finding him in a 
chastened spirit, delivered a homily on the evils 
of idleness, and offered him a position in his 
office toward which many worthier young gen- 
tlemen had cast aspiring eyes. The inconse- 
quence with which the entire connection ap- 
peared to regard Jim’s unworthy leisure had 
long occasioned him distress, and though he 
suspected that he was acting injudiciously, a 
sense of duty to his family spurred him to give 
the boy a trial. Jim listened to his proposition 
with kindly toleration, and even discussed it 
with Percival, who had sustained him through 
his late ordeal. Poor, dear Percy! ” he ob- 
served. I don’t like to hurt his feelings by 
refusing, when he means so well, and I fancy I 
can stand it as long as he can.” 

“ Now, see here. Child,” said Percival, 
don’t you think it is nearly time for you to 
show the stuff you’re made of? This business 
has cost you something besides experience, and 
you are not the only one who has had to pay the 
piper. Of course you will find office-work a 
grind, but you are capable of sticking to what 
330 


FALSE DAWN 


you hate if you know it is the best thing for 
you, and there is no use in turning your back on 
a situation because it’s awkward. I believe in 
staying where you belong and fighting it out.” 

It doesn’t seem to agree with you very 
well,” said Jim, candidly. I must say, I think 
it’s great nonsense your keeping your nose to 
the grindstone the way you do. It’s natural to 
Percy — he’s a sort of machine — but you and I 
feel our oats, and if we don’t bolt occasionally 
it goes hard with us.” 

“ I should say that this last bolt ought to 
suffice you for six months or so,” Percival ob- 
served, and took the youth to the Savarin for 
lunch, where by much guile he managed to ex- 
tract from him a promise to give the banking 
business a faithful trial. Jim’s promises were 
difficult to obtain, but once secured were more 
reliable than the casual observer might have 
suspected, and his mentor heaved a sigh of re- 
lief as he left him at the street corner, and pro- 
ceeded to the office of the Townshend Estate, 
where his own daily trials awaited him. There 
was the usual pile of correspondence, the usual 
number of urgent and sanguine persons with 
schemes to the unfolding of which he listened 
patiently, if wearily; but at the end of it all was 
22 331 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


the prospect of a breath of spring wind, the 
stir and swing of a good horse under him, and 
the welcome on the face of an arrant little 
coward in a trim habit who had confessed that 
she dared not ride without him. He had taken 
great pains with her, supplementing her les- 
sons with instructions of his own, and if she did 
not feel at home in the saddle, she had at least 
the satisfaction of knowing that her looks be- 
lied her, and that he was proud of his pupil. 
He despatched his business with alacrity and 
hurried into his riding clothes, only to wait at 
the circle for a quarter of an hour before Mrs. 
Trevor^s brougham drew up at the curb, and 
his ward alighted, surprised as always to find 
herself late, brimming with new experiences, 
eager and sparkling. 

I have looked at your girths,” he assured 
her, as he arranged her stirrup, and I had 
Thomas take Jolly three times around the Park 
this morning, so you need not be uneasy even if 
she does ^ dance her ears.^ ” 

Then please have him buy some crackers 
at that green stand,” Miss Fenwick com- 
manded, and we will feed the swans.” 

The buds were swollen on the trees, and 
there was a strong ripple on the lake beside 
332 


FALSE DAWN 


which they dismounted. Easter was late, and 
the spring was early. The black swans came 
ferrying toward the shore, harshly voicing 
their expectant greed, and Effie tossed her bits 
of biscuit to them. These invariably fell short, 
and she thrust the remaining pieces into Per- 
civaPs hands. You throw them,” she said. 

They stood for a while watching the swans 
as they fought for the last morsels, while the 
wind blew little strands of hair about Effie^s 
face and roughened the brown water. A mo- 
ment before they had been laughing like two 
children. Now, as he swung her once more into 
the saddle, a silence fell upon them, but a si- 
lence without discomfort or reserve. For the 
first time since the afternoon in the china-room 
she felt the lifting of the shadow that had lain 
between them. He was himself again — the 
man she had hated with malice aforethought, 
respected with reluctance, and whose mere 
presence to-day so satisfied her that she needed 
no name for her contentment. 

Mrs. Trevor had reached home first, and was 
awaiting her at the low tea-table. This was 
usually the hour of many lively confidences, 
but to-day Effie^s tea was untasted, and her 
hands lay clasped in her lap. “ I beg your 
333 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


pardon, Clip dear, it^s quite sweet enough,” she 
murmured, absently. 

Mrs. Trevor rose, and, putting her hand 
under the girl’s chin, turned her face full to the 
waning light. Ef&e flushed scarlet, and drooped 
her dreaming eyes, but the older woman had 
already read there all that they had to tell. 
She might not have known once, but now she 
kissed Effie and left her to her dreams. 


334 


CHAPTER XXX 


THE END OP THE ROPE 

Robin and Henry enjoyed their Easter va- 
cation, if the same could not be said of the Per- 
civals, with whom they spent it. They were 
indisposed toward the end of their visit, their 
gustatory indiscretions gaining them several 
days’ reprieve from a return to their scholastic 
duties, and it was with heartfelt relief that 
Percival, on whom the burden of their enter- 
tainment had fallen most heavily, witnessed 
their ‘departure for Groton. 

This deliverance consummated, a specious 
peace brooded over the house for at least an 
hour, when a plaintive voice was wafted over 
the telephone from farther uptown. “ Now, 
Mr. Percival, Clip says I must have overdrawn 
my allowance, and my bills add up three differ- 
ent ways, and every way I’ve spent more money 
than I had, and still, I found nine dollars in my 
purse this morning. How can that be? ” 

335 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Perhaps I had better go over your ac- 
counts with you,” he suggested. 

I wish you would, for Kosabelle has 
charged me for a green hat — as though I would 
wear such a thing. Come soon,” Miss Fenwick 
commanded, for I am going to a wedding at 
four.” 

The united efforts of the young lady, her 
guardian, and Mrs. Trevor, were required to 
unravel the intricacies of her expenditures, and 
when it finally transpired that the green hat 
was turquoise blue, and that P. S., 300 ” (an 
item indignantly repudiated by Miss Fenwick) 
meant “ Pig-skin Saddle, |30,00 ” the more 
practical members of the trio remained, some- 
what fatigued, in the music-room, while the 
third, disentangled for a month to come, 
tripped upstairs to array herself for her expe- 
dition. 

“ Is that haystack yours or Miss Fen- 
wick’s?” Percival inquired, surveying the 
potted plants which since Easter had trans- 
formed the room into a conservatory. 

Harry Wingfield sent it to Effie,” Mrs. Tre- 
vor explained. She had a cart-load of those 
things, but your roses occupied the place of 
honor until they faded.” 

336 


THE END OF THE ROPE 


Very nice in her,” said Percival. By the 
way, did you know that as Aunt Augusta is- 
sued from our portals she was hit squarely on 
the nose by a bean from a putty-blower? I 
didn’t tell Robin that at his age I was dying to 
do it myself, but lacked his splendid audacity. 
I felt it my duty to lecture him instead, and on 
the whole it’s gratifying to reflect that there 
will be no more holidays until June.” 

I know we ought to have had them here, 
part of the time at least,” she said, remorse- 
fully, but Roy insisted that I shouldn’t. Don’t 
you feel terribly guilty when you are forced to 
shirk things for your own good? ” 

On the contrary, I feel much relieved, and 
so should you,” he assured her. “ I rather en- 
joyed them, but Roy was right. They would 
have worn you out. I have an inspiration for 
their summer vacation. I shall have the White 
Elephant meet them at Boston on the last day 
of school, provisioned for a long cruise, and put 
out to sea directly, with orders not to come 
within sight of land until the beginning of the 
fall term. If you like the idea, we can put the 
Child aboard as well. It would be safe and 
wholesome, though perhaps not so conclusive 
as a desert island.” 


337 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


You forget that you have made up your 
party for Bar Harbor in July,” she protested. 

Then it must be the other alternative. 
Next to a small band of competent assassins, 
which popular prejudice forbids one to main- 
tain, I know of nothing I should prefer to a 
desert island for people who annoy me,” said 
Percival, pensively. I have quite a little col- 
ony there already, in my hopeful imagination, 
and it grows apace.” 

Who are there? ” Mrs. Trevor asked with 
lively interest. 

Promoters, and people with subscription- 
lists, and cranks, and reporters, and elocution- 
ists, and responsibilities, and an aunt or cousin 
or two,” said Percival, “ and that fellow Gess- 
ner.” 

“ I’m sure that during the past fortnight 
you have been sending me there, in charge of 
two growing boys,” said Mrs. Trevor. 

“You? Oh, no, you are on another island, 
with all the things that ought to have hap- 
pened and didn’t,” he confessed. “ It’s a lovely 
spot, and quite visible sometimes from the 
mainland, but there is such a strong current 
surrounding it that one is wrecked just in sight 
of the shore.” 


338 


THE END OF THE ROPE 


“ It is attractive only because you are at a 
distance/’ she said. The people who live 
there don’t find it so enchanting. Sometimes 
they even try to get away from it, and they are 
wrecked too.” 

“ And yet,” he protested, until a few 
months ago I believed that there was only hap- 
piness there. Surely it will come back.” 

Surely Effie’s picture would look better on 
the piano,” said his hostess, with a sudden re- 
turn to ruthless practicality, and rose to experi- 
ment with the photograph — a pleasing present- 
ment of the young person in ball-dress, with a 
rose in her fingers. Having arranged it to her 
satisfaction, she brought a bowl of fiowers 
from a neighboring table, and placed it before 
the picture, with the air of a priestess making 
a votive offering. 

You are awfully fond of her, aren’t you? ” 
he exclaimed. 

So are you,” said Mrs. Trevor. 

One can’t help it,” he admitted. 

I am so glad.” 

Yes, it is more comfortable all around,” 
he agreed. 

Gomfortahlef What a very unromantic way 
of putting it.” 


339 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


I can see nothing romantic about it,” he 
protested. I am an uncle to her.” 

“Do you consider me quite blind?” Mrs. 
Trevor demanded. 

“ On that subject you have always failed to 
display your usual discernment,” said Percival. 
“ It is quite humiliating that she has never 
taken one of her fancies to me, but the fact 
remains, and as it enables us to keep on good 
terms I don’t complain.” 

“ It is perfectly natural that a girl should 
make one or two mistakes before she knows 
her own mind,” she said rather hotly. 

“ I really meant nothing invidious. Of 
course I know that she will find her bear- 
ings sooner or later, and be permanently 
fond of some man, and I envy him his good 
fortune.” 

“ Then you won’t mind my giving you a word 
of advice. Don’t wait too long. Harry Wing- 
field ” 

“ Wingfield is thoroughly straight, and I be- 
lieve he has a future,” he interrupted. “ Why 
shouldn’t she have him if she wants him? ” 

“Because, you foolish man,” wailed Mrs. 
Trevor, “ she likes you best.” 

“ Hasn’t she refused me twice — and with a 
340 


THE END OF THE ROPE 

force and fervor more convincing than flatter- 
ing?’’ 

That signifies nothing.” 

“ It signifies that she doesn’t want me, and 
I shall never annoy her again. What have I to 
offer her except a lot of money, for which she 
cares nothing? She wants what all good 
women want — love — and she will never care 
for any man who can’t give it to her.” 

You love her now.” 

I am devotedly attached to her,” said Per- 
cival. “ I think her the dearest little girl in 
the world, and if I could go to her and honestly 
tell her that I loved her, I should be only too 
glad, but that is what I can never say, to her or 
any other woman. And now, for God’s sake. 
Clip, don’t speak of this to me again. Why 
can’t you be contented to leave things as they 
are? It may not be an ideal condition, but it’s 
the best we can expect.” 

“ But it isn’t the same. Can’t you feel your- 
self how different everything is? We all go on 
living the same life, seeing each other in the 
same way, but it isn’t as it used to be, and only 
an outsider could really think so.” Her voice 
was not quite steady, and she looked away from 
him. 


341 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


That is true enough/’ he admitted, but 
must you make yourself miserable still over 
what is past and gone? There is no reason 
why you should not be happy again.” 

Except that I don’t deserve it,” said Mrs. 
Trevor. It seems that I am one of those 
women who can’t be good unless they are 
happy — and I used to think it was so easy! ” 

“ What have you ever done that was really 
wrong? ” he demanded, indignantly; then, see- 
ing her flush and avert her eyes, he cast discre- 
tion to the winds, and burst out, You can’t 
mean that you have been reproaching yourself 
ever since, because I behaved like a brute to 
you? ” 

You had always treated me perfectly be- 
fore,” she said, still looking away from him. 
The afternoon sun was flooding the room, but 
the fragrance of the flowers lay heavily upon 
their senses, like the air of a church decked for 
a burial service. We had been such good 
friends, and I trusted you. And then — you 
seemed to place me on a level with her — and I 
couldn’t forgive you. But I know now that I 
must have done something to make you believe 
that you could.” 

He had risen, and stood looking down at her. 

342 


THE END OF THE ROPE 


Now I am going to tell you the truth about 
that night,” he said. I shall not attempt to 
make excuses. There are none. But you said 
something then about my not respecting you, 
and I see you remember it as well as I do. I 
canT explain to you without saying what I have 
no right to say. You have always been above 
reproach. I know that you fancied I had 
stopped caring for you. I thought so myself, 
or I should never have fallen into the old 
grooves as I did. When I discovered my mis- 
take, I made my plans to go before I made mat- 
ters worse. Then the Fenwicks came, and I 
was thrown with you every day. While it was 
only your happiness I had to watch, believe me, 
I had myself in hand, but when I saw how mat- 
ters stood, I lost my head and made you more 
trouble. I knew that if I went, I should leave 
you an added care, which you were not strong 
enough to assume, and that if I stayed, I ran 
the risk of offending you again. It was between 
the devil and the deep sea, and I have had a 
taste of both in the past few months.” 

“ I didn^t misunderstand your motive in 
staying. I know all that you have done for us. 
We are all deeply grateful — Roy and Jim and 
I,” she began, formally, but the words died 
343 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


on her lips, and all the pretty evasions with 
which she had been wont to fend off compelling 
truth failed her in the face of his determina- 
tion. 

Don’t overestimate my services. I am 
only one more fool who has been guilty of good 
intentions,” he said. “ I have no right to ask a 
favor of you, and still, I do. If you are unable 
to forget my offense, at least don’t torment 
yourself with the thought that I failed in rev- 
erence to you. If you must remember it, re- 
member too that as I loved you when I thought 
you were to be my wife, with whatever was best 
in me, I loved you that night.” 

“But it is over now!” she implored. “I 
don’t stand in your way any longer? ” 

He could not answer her question. In the 
moment of silence, while she saw the harm she 
had unwittingly done him, he felt only the 
shadow of separation, impending and inevi- 
table. The saddest farewells are not those 
where we see each other no more, but those 
where the part that was ours is withdrawn 
from us, the common interest dead. “ It means 
very little,” he said finally, “ to say that you 
would die for a cause when life isn’t particu- 
larly dear to you, but I would gladly live 
344 


THE END OF THE ROPE 


through that hell again to be just your friend 
once more. If you are willing to trust me so 
far, you need not fear that I shall ever forget 
myself again.” 

She looked up at him finally, with a curious 
exaltation in her face — the uplifting of spirit 
which with her was the herald of any supreme 
action, right or wrong. She stood on the 
threshold of expiation, not to him, but to her 
own conscience. It may have been a species of 
spiritual hypocrisy, but the self-deception was 
sincere. I am not afraid for you,” she said. 
“ It is for myself ” 

PercivaPs heart gave a sudden leap, and 
the color crept into his face. It was true, then. 
The thing he had long since ceased to hope for 
had come to him at last. The moment was his, 
and she, who had never been to him as other 
women, might be his also. All the considera- 
tions which had seemed so weighty, so impossi- 
ble to ignore, all lesser issues and scruples, 
were swept away in the flood-tide which this 
confession had loosed. He had tried until now, 
with varying success, to live up to certain of his 
standards; he had held her in such reverence 
that no thought of danger to her had ever 
augmented his sense of guilt and disloyalty, 
345 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


and now she had descended from her high altar, 
and stood within reach of his arms, rending the 
veil of her divinity, and revealing her heart to 
him — her heart that cried out to his after its 
years of silence. What were other women to 
him now, whoever they might be? There was 
but one in the world for him, and she was his 
at last. 

Her voice came to him above the tumult of 
his triumph — the little trembling, pathetic 
voice of the days when he had first loved her. 

And so you see why I must trust you to help 
me — and go.” 

The moment was still his if he chose. The 
selfishness of his passion claimed it, and the 
disappointment and hunger of the years made 
their appeal to him, no saint nor hero, but a 
man of strong feelings, to whom there had 
come few necessities for the renunciation of 
self. The temptation which she confessed was 
the same which had embittered his life for all 
these weary months, conquered at so great a 
cost, buried with such pains, and now stronger 
and more terrible than ever in its resurrection. 
Why resist it longer? The world was before 
them. It need entail no shame on her. The 
thing was done every day. Freedom was hers 
346 


THE END OF THE ROPE 


for the asking, and a fresh start at the uncer- 
tain game of life. To give his life to her, to 
atone for all that she had suffered, surely was 
not so base a motive. And was it for this that 
she had trusted him? She stood in the strong 
sunlight, still with the look on her face which 
transfigured a weak and faulty woman into the 
semblance of an exalted saint. He did not seek 
to lessen the distance between them. The 
struggle was ended, this time with no com- 
promise. “Good-by,” he said. She did not 
answer, but her eyes followed him, and so he 
went away. 

Trevor came in later for the daily turn in 
the Park with which they instinctively sought 
to publish the excellent terms on which they 
lived. To the same end they made conversa- 
tion, cudgeling their brains for safe subjects. 
“ The designs for the new gates came this morn- 
ing,” said the beauty. “ I don’t care for them, 
but perhaps you will like them.” 

“ Those Porters have bought an Italian 
prince for the youngest girl,” was Trevor’s con- 
tribution. “ Opinions differ as to the amount 
they are giving for him, but Italian princes are 
not as dear as some kinds.” 

23 347 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


Meanwhile she was thinking: “You were 
the first man who came into my life, and I 
thought you were the only one. I have given 
you my youth, and all I had to give. We have 
been married not quite five years, and I have 
lived out my dreams. I never had any real 
play-time, and I am tired and alone. I wish I 
could believe that I was to blame — not simply 
that you were tired of me — but you were not 
true, even to her! And now I am untrue in my 
heart to you, for I have learned what love 
might have been to me.” 

Trevor also was thinking, but he voiced his 
thoughts. “ I suppose most married people just 
get along somehow. Upon my word, the only 
ones I know who appear satisfied with them- 
selves and with each other are Spriggy and 
Percy, and Spriggy has a way of taking life by 
the throat and shaking the best out of it, that 
in a less fortunate person would be highway 
robbery.” 

“ She takes only the things she has a right 
to take,” said his wife. 

Trevor raised his eyebrows, and returned 
to his desultory gossip until the victoria 
stopped before his own door. 

“ I hate this house! ” Clip said suddenly on 
348 


THE END OF THE ROPE 


the threshold. I wish I need never enter it 
again.” 

The door swung open, and husband and wife 
passed into the hall. Contrary to his usual cus- 
tom he followed her to her own room, and 
closed the door behind him. “ We might as 
well have it out once for all,” he said. What 
do you propose to do? ” 

“ I want to go away. I can^t bear this any 
longer.” 

“ I was expecting it,” he said, bitterly. “ I 
knew that you had done with me. I was a fool 
to hope that you would give me another 
chance.” 

Would there be any use in it? ” she asked. 

“ I suppose you will take the boy,” said Tre- 
vor, and turned his face to the window. 

“No — no! I can’t take him, and I can’t 
leave him. He is as much yours as mine.” 

He turned to her again. “Clip! You 
will f ” 

“ O Koy, you didn’t think I meant to go 
alone?” she sobbed, and held out her arms to 
him. “ Take me away from here. Take me to 
some place where we can both forget and begin 
over again! ” 


349 


CHAPTER XXXI 


A NEW LEAF 

The first warning bell of the St. Louis was 
ringing when Mr. Floyd, bustling about, col- 
lided with Wingfield, who, armed with a bottle 
of choice brandy and a huge box of chocolates, 
was hastening toward the group collected to 
wish the Trevors Ion voyage. Percy Townshend, 
who for once had managed to tear himself away 
from his office in the morning, was already fid- 
geting to go ashore, and had three times 
dragged Jim away from his small nephew and 
started him toward the gangway. The rest of 
the party overwhelmed the travelers with last 
commissions, though the date for their return 
was not fixed. ^^Kow see them all,^^ cried Mr. 
Floyd, severely, making a perfect packhorse 
of poor Clip! Just like women! And then 
they^ll all kick over the duty. Why, Mrs. Ver- 
ney brought over a false neck for her mother- 
in-law last fall, and the old harpy never paid 
her what it cost to get it out of the custom- 
350 


A NEW LEAF 


house. And that reminds me, Clip, that, if you 
can get me a giraffe-skin cigarette-case, with 
the narrow gold edges — I don’t want them 
heavy ” 

We shall have to go back on the pilot- 
boat,” Percy Townshend predicted. My dear, 
I believe I will take the elevated. It will 
get me to the office in better time than the 
brougham.” 

Then you can give me a lift, Spriggy,” said 
Mr. Floyd, promptly. Is the carriage full of 
vegetables to-day? Well, you needn’t laugh. 
Child. The last time I went anywhere with 
her, there was a huge box of potatoes and tea 
and grocers’ stuff that she was taking to some 
of her old paupers on her way to a luncheon, 
and some white stuff came off on my trousers, 
and I looked like a sweep.” 

A general exodus warned them that Percy’s 
fears were not without foundation, and Effie 
clung to Mrs. Trevor with tears in her eyes, 
while Mrs. Townshend kissed her cousins with 
system and despatch, and started for the gang- 
way. Wingfield lingered, waiting for Effie, and 
as she finally turned to accompany him, her 
eyes lighted upon Percival, at whose absence 
she had marveled in the midst of her grief. 

351 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


He hastily made his adieux to the voyagers and 
followed his ward. “ I am going to bring you 
home, if I may,” he said. 

They all stood together on the pier while 
the St. Louis got under way. The Trevors lin- 
gered by the rail, looking down at them. They 
seemed to be chatting in a lively and intimate 
fashion which caused Mr. Floyd, gazing up at 
them, to observe with an air of great righteous- 
ness to Mrs. Townshend: “I believe we have 
succeeded in averting a scandal. At one time, 
I own, I thought there was going to be a split, 
and a new deal all ’round, and it fairly got on 
my nerves. Of course, everybody does it now- 
adays, but WE are expected to set an example, 
and now it seems to have blown over, thanks 
to me.” 

Mrs. Townshend transfixed him with a stony 
eye. She had not been truly cordial to him 
for some months, though he was at a loss to 
account for her change of manner. It seems 
to me,” she remarked, “ that the less said about 
that the better.” Nevertheless she expressed 
her gratification at the evident improvement in 
her cousins’ domestic relations to Percy, who 
was still fidgeting on the dock, having been per- 
suaded to retain his seat in the brougham. If 
352 


A NEW LEAF 


she had not seen fit to impart all she knew to 
her husband, she did not propose to leave Mr. 
Floyd in oblivion of his own shortcomings. As 
the water widened between the steamer and 
the pier, and the beauty^s fiuttering handker- 
chief became a vanishing speck, Percy ob- 
served, sentimentally, It is really a second 
honeymoon for them.” 

“ It will be a rest for Clip, at all events,” 
Spriggy agreed, as they drove off. Here, if 
anything goes wrong, even in the stables, she is 
obliged to attend to it, for Roy won% and she 
isn’t a person who can let things slide.” 

If Roy would only occupy himself, he 
would not be forever giving her anxiety,” Percy 
opined. “I think Sidney has spoiled him as 
much as Clip has. He is always taking trouble- 
some matters off Roy’s hands, and yet Sidney 
is a busy man himself.” 

Of course we are all busy, but thank 
Heaven, my husband will write his own letters, 
and read his own books, and entertain his own 
friends!” said Mrs. Townshend, fervently. 
“ Roy is mentally and morally lazy, and, how- 
ever much she may love him, that is always a 
trial to a woman of Clip’s character.” 

« We all have our failings,” Percy observed, 
353 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


with a charity quickened by the late satisfac- 
tory adjustment of affairs. 

He really takes very little trouble with 
women,” the fair-minded Spriggy confessed, 
after a reflective pause, and I suppose he can^t 
help being so shockingly good-looking. But the 
more I see of other men, the more I congratu- 
late myself that I had sense enough to marry 
you, Percy — and now aren’t you glad you didn’t 
take the elevated? ” 

Spriggy thinks that I’m going to make 
her house my headquarters while Clip is away,” 
Jim Trevor said to Percival, as he prepared to 
return to the scene of his labors. Now it’s 
very nice there, and all that, but I see Percy 
down-town every day, and I don’t want to rub 
it in. When they have an evening at home, they 
take pencils and draw plans for getting bath- 
tubs into model tenements without wasting 
space, and I showed them how to manage, and 
they were as pleased as Punch. It’s positively 
pathetic to see how hard they work trying to 
make it convenient for people to be clean. And 
then Kendal drops in, and they are all stren- 
uous together, and Percy tells what he would 
do if he were mayor. This earnestness I call 
positively ill-bred.” 


354 


A NEW LEAF 


It^s inartistic, I admit, said Percival, 
but you can^t very well avoid it nowadays. 
IPs in the air. Sometimes I even suspect my- 
self of harboring it.” 

“ Well, at least you have the decency to con- 
ceal it,” said Jim. ThaPs why I’m going to 
ask you if you really wanted me when you told 
Clip you expected me. Because I know I’m bet- 
ter off with you than anywhere else.” 

“ I don’t think it’s very nice in you to make 
fun of them,” said Miss Fenwick, who, not ap- 
preciating her guardian’s generosity to Wing- 
field, had joined the other group. “ Next to 
Clip, there is no one I admire as much as 
Spriggy. I should like to be a philanthropist 
myself.” 

You haven’t money enough,” said Archie 
with fraternal frankness. 

And I’m not clever enough. I know it,” 
EflQe admitted. 

My dear girl, promise me that you will do 
nothing rash,” Jim protested. Give me your 
word that at least it won’t be a college settle- 
ment.” 

Effie relished ridicule as little as most peo- 
ple, and was grateful to Percival for hurrying 
her into the brougham. If Harry Wingfield 
355 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


did not share her sentiments, he was too nice 
a young man to exhibit his dismay at seeing 
her borne away by the person whom he re- 
garded as his most formidable rival. Instead 
he carried Archie off to his studio, where the 
youth discoursed feelingly of the overwhelming 
nature of his scholastic labors, and of his ap- 
prehensions lest he should fail to pass his finals 
once more. 

Meanwhile Effie leaned back against the 
cushions with a feeling of thankfulness that 
she had escaped from Wingfield at what expe- 
rience had taught her was likely to be a critical 
moment, mitigated by a forlorn sense of loss. 

When Clip is here I don’t feel it,” she said to 
Percival as they were jolted across the car- 
tracks, but when she goes, I realize that I 
have no home.” 

The little speech hurt him, though not in 
the same way in which it would have wounded 
him a few weeks earlier. He had dreaded the 
necessary farewells, not liking to create re- 
mark by his absence, nor to reopen wounds 
that were still too recent to be tampered with, 
but as he had watched the water widen be- 
tween him and the woman who for years had 
been the most potent infiuence in his life, he 
356 


A NEW LEAF 


was conscious, through the wrench of parting, 
of relief that the obsession was over at last, 
and that, whatever the struggle might have 
cost, he was his own man again. Until a few 
weeks ago he could have echoed Effie’s words. 
Now he felt called upon to protest against 
them. I suppose you can’t regard a place as 
home simply because the house seems empty 
after you are gone,” he said, but at least you 
know how glad we are to have you back again.” 

Effie shook her head mournfully. “ You 
think I don’t understand what a trouble we 
have been to you,” she said. And I didn’t, at 
first. I was only glad at getting away from 
Aunt Katherine, and being with Clip, and hav- 
ing a good time. I thought all the time of what 
people were going to do for me, and never of 
what I ought to do for them. You were going 
away, and we prevented you. Your hands were 
full already, and we were thrust upon you. I 
must have known it in my heart if I had been 
sensible, but I never realized it until that day — 
that dreadful day in the china-room.” 

I can’t wonder that you don’t care to come 
back to us,” said Percival, with a stab of retro- 
spective remorse. There had so undeniably 
been a time when he had considered the Fen- 
357 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


wicks a burden, that any reference to his for- 
mer sentiments filled him with discomfort. He 
would have liked to justify himself in Effie’s 
eyes, to make a clean breast of the exact part 
she had played in his embarrassments, but this 
was so clearly impossible that he did not at- 
tempt to explain at all. Whatever she thought, 
she must continue to think. He could say noth- 
ing more. 

You mustn’t think that I don’t want to 
come,” Effie protested. Only I feel that it 
would be better if we went back to Aunt Kath- 
erine.” 

doubt if you are any happier with her 
than you are even here,” said Percival. 

I don’t expect to be happy. Perhaps, 
though, now that I know it isn’t always her 
fault, we shall get along better,” she suggested. 

I suppose you have an idea that it is your 
duty,” said Percival, disapprovingly; “though 
why you should go where you know you will be 
miserable is a mystery to me.” 

“ You would do it yourself. Do you sup- 
pose I don’t know?” Effie demanded. “You 
have given up everything you wanted to do, 
and done everything that you hated. You 
thought I didn’t see anything, but I have known 
358 


A NEW LEAF 


for ever so long, and now I can^t have it on my 
conscience any longer.^’ 

“ But, my dear child, it isn’t a burden to me 
now,” he interrupted, vehemently. If you 
had said this to me six months ago, I could not 
honestly have denied it. It seemed to me as 
though the fates had conspired to keep me in a 
situation that had become unbearable to me. 
I had been disappointed in everything that I 
believed worth while, and I was not man 
enough to keep it to myself, so I hurt you too. 
But that is over now, thank God, and so is my 
delusion that I had a divine right to cry for the 
moon. I have come to the conclusion that my 
happiness isn’t the end for which the world 
was created, and that if I can’t have what I 
like, I must like what I have. I have grown so 
accustomed to my harness that I should be at 
a loss without it. These things are my busi- 
ness, and I would not be willing now to hand 
them over to any one else, unless you were dis- 
satisfied with my management of your part of 
them. And as for you — Effie, I thought you 
knew how I feel about you now! ” 

But Effie was unable to forget her own part 
in the uncongenial weight which he had carried 
for so long. She would go away, with the chil- 
359 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


dren. She would learn to manage her own 
affairs. So much, at least, she could spare him. 
He had not realized how he had looked forward 
to her return until he saw her firmly persisting 
in her departure. 

Mrs. Percival innocently augmented his dis- 
appointment by the readiness with which she 
fell in with Effie’s plans. After prettily be- 
wailing the approaching separation, she sought 
her son in private, and with great complacency 
remarked, “ Since the dear children are going, 
I can join your Aunt Emmy in Paris, and have 
Chdri treat my hair. It is falling out by the 
handful, and Theresa has been imploring me 
for six months to put myself into his hands. 
Of course, no complaint passed my lips as long 
as it seemed best to have them here, but I have 
spent a most upsetting year, and it will be a 
great relief not to be obliged to open The 
Cedars this summer. The Brents will be at 
Cowes in August, and you might meet us at 
Boulogne with the yacht and join them there. 
I hate being ill on a Channel steamer.” 

The children were counting on spending 
part of the summer in Fortmounthouse,” Per- 
cival objected. 

“ Well, no doubt you can engage some suit- 
360 


A NEW LEAF 


able person to take charge of them there,” his 
mother replied. “ I should not blame Mrs. Fos- 
ter if she found them more than she cared to 
manage. They have worn both Clip and me to 
shadows, and it is only fair that their own peo- 
ple should take a turn at them. The truth is, 
no house is big enough for more than one fam- 
ily. I am not breathing a word against them. 
Effie is a dear child, and has done us great 
credit, and if Archie isnT at New Haven next 
winter he never will be, but I feel that I have 
earned a rest.” 

So it happened that when Miss Fenwick and 
Percival parted on the train which was to bear 
her on the first of a round of visits in which she 
hoped to find solace for her ultimate sojourn 
with Mrs. Foster, each was secretly hurt at the 
unconcern which the other displayed. Now 
that the decisive step was taken, Effie felt her- 
self a very Ishmael, and something swelled in 
her throat as she reflected on what she was 
leaving. She was doing the right thing, and 
nothing should induce her now to swerve from 
her course. Only, they might have cared a lit- 
tle more. 


361 


CHAPTER XXXII 


“ GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS ” 

A LUXURIOUS beggar who has been doing 
Norway in his own yacht all summer can^t in- 
dulge in those sensations of conscious virtue in 
which I am reveling at present,” said Jim Tre- 
vor. Two things have sustained me during 
the past five months — the prospect of tasting 
for the first time the well-earned repose of the 
industrious journeyman, and Percy’s counte- 
nance of chronic surprise when I turned up at 
the office every morning. They all find it so 
amazing that I have actually stuck to it! ” 

I owe you a lifelong gratitude for enabling 
me once to say ^ I told you so! ’ to Percy,” said 
Percival. 

It was late in September, and a three days’ 
storm had drenched all Fortmounthouse into 
untimely somberness. A damp, whining wind 
was stripping the long yellow leaves from the 
willows around the ugly fountain, now par- 
tially dismantled, and the rain-soaked earth 
362 


“GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN 


lay bare in patches, encumbered with all the 
unsightly paraphernalia of excavation and con- 
struction. 

“ What on earth are you doing here? ’’ Jim 
demanded, peering with interest into the 
trench that yawned at his feet, already partly 
floored with stone, and littered with blocks of 
masonry. 

I have detested that fountain from my 
earliest childhood,” said Percival, and when 
they ruined the lawns in rebuilding the stables, 
I thought I would finish the good work and 
have a swimming-pool made here instead. 
They have already carted away two very objec- 
tionable small mermaids, and I trust that Tri- 
ton may go next.” 

‘‘ IPs jolly deep,” Jim commented. WonT 
it be a good thing next summer? They had to 
stop work, I suppose, on account of the rain. 
There is watervenough now in that lower end 
to swim in.” 

‘‘ It isn’t as deep as it looks. You see, they 
had just lowered the biggest blocks of stone 
in there when this storm began.” Percival 
picked up a chip of granite and aimed it at the 
deepest part of the muddy water. Didn’t you 
hear it strike then? That is the heaviest block 
24 363 


FOUR-IN-HAND 

of all, and it isn^t more than two inches from 
the surface.’^ 

Jim also flung a few experimental stones, 
then resumed his contemplative attitude, and 
stood with feet wide apart, puffing at his pipe, 
the picture of contentment against the gloomy 
landscape. You’d better believe I’m glad to 
be here with you in this blessed place once 
more!” he said. I told Percy I would wait 
and take my vacation when you came home. 
Summer in town wasn’t half as bad as I always 
thought it would be, but all this is much better. 
I believe virtue is an acquired taste, but when 
you’ve once got it — Hello! What’s that?” 

Percival turned sharply. In the gravel 
walk, a little distance away, stood the square, 
heavily built figure of a middle-aged man, pa- 
tient, deprecating, but insistent. He groaned 
under his breath to Jim, “ I have not been back 
a week, and here he is again — my Old Man of 
the Sea.” 

The man advanced, twisting his soft hat in 
his hands, and with a look on his broad face of 
mingled doggedness and appeal. “Welcome 
home, Mr. Percival,” he said. “ I saw your ar- 
rival in the paper, and I went at once to your 
office, but they told me you were here. I hope 
864 


“ GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN ” 


you see your way clear about that nomination. 
I was talking only yesterday to a gentleman 
whose name I’m not at liberty to mention, but 
he knows the ropes, and he says that if you’ll 
only use your influence for my nomination, my 
election would be a dead certainty.” 

I have no political influence,” said Per- 
cival. 

So they all say,” Gessner replied in a con- 
fidential tone, but I know that you can get me 
that seat in Congress if you choose.” 

“ My dear man, you might as well ask me 
for the throne of Kussia,” said Percival. 

« I^ve given you all the time I can,” Gessner 
urged. “ I ought to be making my canvass 
now.” 

“ Why won’t you set your head on some- 
thing that I could do for you? ” Percival asked, 
wearily. 

Gessner still stood twisting his hat, a pa- 
thetic, shuffling figure. “ I will give you until 
this evening,” he said, finally. 

Very well,” said Percival. “ Think it over 
and see if there isn’t something else that would 
do just as well.” Gessner turned, and walked 
slowly down the road, shaking his head. 

Is this the sort of thing you have been 
365 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


standing from that fellow?’’ Jim demanded. 

Why, he’s crazy. He ought not to be at 
large.” 

He was not like this at first,” said Per- 
cival. He seemed sane enough when I first 
knew him. I suppose he has been brooding over 
this matter until he really believes that I have 
robbed him of his birthright, and that I am 
bound to make him any reparation he demands. 
And sometimes I think he may be right.” 

^‘Nonsense!” said Jim. “What claim can 
he possibly have on you? What is yours is 
yours. Hasn’t a man a right to his own life? 
I know I have a right to mine, and I propose to 
take it, too, and not worry too much about 
other people. They wouldn’t worry about me. 
Would your Old Man of the Sea stand any such 
preposterous rubbish from you, if your places 
were reversed, as you do from him? You know 
very well that he’d call in the police.” 

“ He can’t realize that he is doing anything 
unreasonable,” said Percival. “ That is the 
worst of it.” 

“ Well, it’s a pretty bad old world,” Jim ob- 
served, philosophically, “ but I like it, such as it 
is, and I shall take as good care as possible that 
it treats me well in return.” 

366 


“GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN 


Percival believed him. The Trevors had al- 
ways wrested their desires red-handed from 
fate — all save one, a pathetic little figure now, 
lonely and resolute, already fading from the 
scene it had dominated. The gates of Fort- 
mounthouse were still locked, and even their 
opening could not unseal the book of vain de- 
sire. 

As they rose from the dinner-table that 
evening, Jim reverted to the unwelcome sub- 
ject. “ It is almost time for your future con- 
gressman. What are you going to do with 
him? ” 

Percival laughed and groaned. “ I suppose 
it really isn’t safe to leave him at large,” he 
admitted. “ His parting remark sounded like 
an ultimatum, and if he should become con- 
vinced that it is beyond my power to do what 
he wants, he may do himself an injury. I be- 
lieve I will telephone the doctor to come over 
and take a look at him while he is here.” 

“ Well, I’m going outside to see what the 
weather is doing,” said Jim. 

His host called after him: “ I’ll join you as 
soon as I have finished at the telephone.” 

It had stopped raining, and the wind was 
scouring the sky. Little rifts in the clouds fit- 
367 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


fully disclosed the horn of the new moon, but 
the darkness of the shrubbery rendered excur- 
sions on the turf a hazardous experiment, and 
Jim kept to the gravel path which led to the 
swimming-pool. There, as he stood by the cop- 
ing listening for Percival, the clouds parted to 
reveal the whole of the slender crescent, and 
he saw Gessner^s figure, heavy, patient, unmis- 
takable, on the edge of the excavation. 

I say, I wouldnT walk there if I were you,’^ 
he called out to him. Those wet leaves are 
deuced slippery, and you’re likely to fall.” 

I am not walking,” said Gessner. 

Then what the mischief are you doing? ” 
Jim demanded. 

Only waiting.” 

What is that in your hand? ” the boy asked 
with sudden intuition. 

The man stepped backward, with one arm 
upraised, as if to defend himself, and paused 
again as PercivaPs step came crunching nearer 
on the wet gravel. Then his hand went back 
to his coat, and Jim’s suspicion became a cer- 
tainty. He sprang on the other, pinioning him 
and searching him at once, and his fingers 
clutched on what he had expected to find. With 
his strong young hands he wrenched it from 
368 


“GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN 


Gessner’s grasp and flung it away from him, 
and it went splashing into the pool. Gessner, 
freed for a moment, seized him about the waist, 
and they grappled in the dark, the ground ooz- 
ing and slipping under their feet. Unwieldy 
and soft as the older man appeared, he was 
very heavy, and his weight bore always toward 
the edge. It was no small matter to hold him 
back, and even with the joy of combat rising in 
his blood, the boy began to realize that it was 
no longer a question of PercivaPs life, but of 
his own. The exaltation of peril fllled him. It 
seemed to him that life could hold no better 
moment than this, when he was fighting for it 
hand to hand. Then, suddenly, the edge yielded 
to the dragging weight, and there was rushing 
space, and a crash on the masonry beneath. 

Mrs. Townshend, smothering with resolute 
piety the outcry of rebellious nature, knelt be- 
side the cot on which her young cousin lay, as 
the doctors had left him. That he was aware 
of her presence she knew, for his eyes were 
fixed on her with something more than the 
weariness of mortal struggle, and once or twice 
he had opened his lips and closed them sud- 
denly again, as though he feared to ask the 
369 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


question that trembled there. Finally he 
nerved himself by a supreme effort to speak: 

Are they finished with me? ’’ 

Yes, dear, they won’t trouble you any 
more.” 

Spriggy — if it’s simply death, I’m not 
afraid — but it can’t be that I must live like 
this? ” 

She sobbed outright. “ Oh, Jim, it’s simply 
death.” 

He tried to move his hand toward hers. 

That’s all right,” he said. 

We must believe that it is right. We must 
see it, for there is no other way,” she insisted 
with piteous determination. It was her duty 
to accept the fact that this boy, yesterday full 
of the true genius for living that ma^kes good 
and evil alike worth while, was going out with 
the twilight, a stranger and alone, to face the 
eternal mystery. But, oh, to have it come 
like this — when you were doing so well! — when 
we were beginning to be so proud of you! ” 

Never mind, Spriggy dear,” said Jim, con- 
solingly. It wouldn’t have lasted.” 


370 


CHAPTEE XXXIII 


OUT OF THE DEPTHS 

“Extra! Extra! Double tragedy at Fort- 
mounthouse! ” the newsboys were crying in the 
streets of New Haven, and Archie Fenwick 
stood in the middle of his study, with the paper 
crushed in his hand, raging against accom- 
plished destiny. Before this clamor of familiar 
names had persistently claimed his notice, he 
had been proudly displaying his new quarters 
to his sister, and meeting his aunt’s charges of 
extravagance with the lofty tolerance of a new- 
fledged collegian. Now, in his grief and re- 
sentment, he was an impotent child, defying 
the inevitable. “ I can’t believe it. I won’t 
believe it,” he cried. “ It’s one of their 
trumped-up lies. Why, I wrote to him only 
yesterday.” 

His aunt strove to console him. Our every- 
day life offers so few opportunities for the sort 
of heroism that kindles the imagination that 
the world is eager to apotheosize those who 
371 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


chance to achieve it, and Mrs. Foster, who had 
esteemed Jim lightly enough living, was daz- 
zled like the rest by the luster of his departure. 
For Gessner, formerly the object of newspaper 
sentimentality, there were now only objurga- 
tions which his death could not soften. His 
intended victim cut but a sorry figure in the 
tragedy. It was Jim — all Jim! 

“ I always felt that he would come to no 
ordinary end,’’ Mrs. Foster pronounced finally, 
but I never dreamed that it would be such a 
noble one. Come, Effie, dry your eyes. After 
all, we should be thankful that the villain 
didn’t succeed in assassinating Mr. Percival. 
Whatever the sacrifice may have been, we must 
remember that his is the more valuable life of 
the two.” 

“ And how valuable do you suppose it is to 
him now? ” Efi&e cried. You all think of noth- 
ing but Jim— but it is all over for him now, and 
it lasted only a little while. How would you 
feel if you were the one who had to accept such 
a sacrifice? How would you bear his dying 
the death that was meant for you? ” She 
turned even upon her beloved Archie, in the 
ferocity of her prescience. Her whole soul 
blazed with it; her heart was bursting with a 
372 


OUT OF THE DEPTHS 


very anguish of sympathy. A little, futile per- 
son yesterday, and perhaps again to-morrow, 
to-day she rose to the level of her utmost possi- 
bilities. 

I am going to Fortmounthouse,’’ she said. 

You may go with me. Aunt Katherine, or I 
will go alone, but there is no use in your trying 
to stop me.’’ Her determination carried all be- 
fort it, even Mrs. Foster’s opposition, which fell 
upon deaf ears, and so, vainly protesting, the 
good lady prepared for the journey. 

The Townshends were in possession at The 
Cedars, receiving the condolences of a large 
family connection, reading and answering tele- 
grams, filling the role of chief mourners in the 
absence of the next of kin. Percy was in his 
element, but Spriggy, while retaining her ca- 
pacity for action, felt herself confronted by a 
situation with which she was unable to cope. 
If up to this time she had been a trifle prone to 
regard herself in the light of a special Provi- 
dence, the inadequacy of her efforts to adjust 
Percival’s mind to a proper resignation baffled 
and humiliated her, and she finally broke down 
on Effle’s arrival, and sobbed on her shoulder. 

I don’t know what to say to him,” she con- 
fessed. I’ve tried everything, and it is of no 
373 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


use. He can’t let himself go. I believe I have 
been on more confidential terms with him than 
any living being, but he can’t show his heart 
even to me. I’ve seen him take the most knock- 
down blows when nobody would have sus- 
pected that he cared — ^you know his way. But 
I’ve never seen him like this, and it frightens 
me. It isn’t that he makes any fuss — it would 
be more human if he would. He’s perfectly 
quiet — but when you see him you will know 
what I mean. It is killing him.” 

She dried her eyes conclusively, and went 
into the next room to receive Mrs. Foster. 
Effie stood alone by the grate, in which a wood 
fire was blazing. The curtains were drawn, for 
the windows looked out on the scene of the 
disaster, and already there were gaps in the 
foliage of the trees which hid the half-com- 
pleted pool from the house. Outside it was 
very still and bright and cold, and the yellow 
autumn sunshine filtered into the room even 
through the draperies. Mrs. Townshend had 
closed the door behind her, and only a monoto- 
nous murmur of voices came from the other 
side. Confronted by the actual spectacle of a 
man dumb in the clutch of a great grief, she 
might feel her limitations, but out of his pres- 
374 


OUT OF THE DEPTHS 

ence she could find the same relief in fluent 
emotionality which her husband derived from 
solemn platitudes. Percival, who had schooled 
himself to subordinate his emotions to the re- 
quirements of convention, and to consider self- 
revelation almost an indecency, could no more 
wring comforting expression from his affliction 
than he could wring blood from a stone. There 
are some depths of the soul to which we de- 
scend shuddering and alone, and will have no 
companion to hold the light. The debt, incurred 
without his knowledge, could never be repaid. 
His life had been purchased by his friend’s, and 
through all the coming years this obligation 
was his, to endure and to conceal. It is but an 
ill-bred Tragedy that flaunts herself in public. 
Why, when our friends considerately present 
to us tranquil countenances, should we seek to 
peer and pry behind the mask for the haggard, 
tear-stained face it may hide? So the mask was 
down when Percival entered the room, and 
Effle felt her sympathy beating vainly against 
the aloofness of this dignity and despair. This 
is very good in you,” he said. She wondered to 
how many others he had been forced to make 
the same set speech already, and how he could 
endure this ghastly repetition of condolences 
375 


FOUR-IN-HAND 


from people who, in their hearts, were more 
inclined to congratulate him. She had yet to 
learn for what rough usage the human machine 
is built. 

How can you bear it? ” she cried. 

What else can I do? he asked, and could 
say no more. He had not relinquished her 
hands, and she could feel his grasp tighten 
upon them. His armor of self-possession was 
for other people, not for her. 

“ Oh, don^t think it was so much. It is all 
past for him now,” she said, and the worst 
part is left for you. He loved you, and it wasn’t 
hard for him. He did it without a thought, as 
you would have done in his place. Why, I am a 
coward and love my life, and yet I would have 
been glad to do as he did — for you! ” 

He held her at arm’s length, startled out of 
his lethargy. Efl&e,” he cried, do you know 
what you are saying? ” 

I only know,” she sobbed, that if you let 
this break your heart, mine will break too.” 

My dear love, stay with me then,” said 
Percival, and took her into his arms. 

“ You must never remember, though, how I 
threw myself at your head,” she said presently. 
Her great moment was past and her mission 
376 


OUT OF THE DEPTHS 

accomplished. She was once more the consoled 
instead of the consoler, and sat comfortably 
asserting those claims which for a long time it 
had been his pleasure and diversion to recog- 
nize. She so filled the present that every other 
consideration receded momentarily into ob- 
scurity. 

“ You blessed little goose,” said Percival, 
you knew I loved you.” 

“ I know I am a goose,” she admitted, but 
about one thing I was never half as silly as you 
were. I knew about you, and you never even 
guessed about me.” 

Guessed what? ” 

“ That I’ve loved you for ages and ages,” she 
confessed, and hid her face on his shoulder. 


THE END 


( 1 ) 


377 












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